


Happy Summer Holidays

by herilaveur



Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:20:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25126099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herilaveur/pseuds/herilaveur
Summary: Basile wanted to find an idea to change Daphne's ideas: what could be better for this than organizing a vacation for 8 friends, in a week and on a tight budget?Get on board with Lucas, Eliott, Basile, Daphne, Arthur, Alexia, Yann and Emma for a crazy holiday!***a chapter added every day***
Relationships: Arthur Broussard / Alexia Martineau, Basile Savary/Daphné Lecomte, Eliott Demaury/Lucas Lallemant
Comments: 67
Kudos: 118





	1. A good idea

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Lucas looks at Eliott, making puppy dog eyes at him, and Eliott laughs, then grabs his face in his hands and kisses him.

''It's a great idea, babe. Plus it's your idea."

Lucas shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

''Oh, stop saying that, it's definitely not my idea. If this goes wrong, there's no way anyone's gonna say it's my fault."

Eliott laughs and walks away from Lucas to finish putting their stuff in the duffel bag.

"Everything's going to be all right, and who suggested has Daphne to focus on one project?"

Lucas rolls his eyes before he tosses his cell phone charger on the bed for Eliott to put in the bag.

''Okay, but I never suggested she plan a week's vacation without giving us any details about where we're going and what we're going to do. Basile was looking for an idea to cheer him up and keep his mind occupied now that Lola's back in hospital. So if we look good, it's actually Basile's idea. Seeing as she's been managing the foyer project like a pro, I just suggested she likes to get involved in a project and maybe she should find a new one.''

Eliott nods with a smile.

''Organizing a vacation for eight people, on a pretty tight budget, in less than one week, I call it a fucking good project! I can't wait to see what she's got in store for us. Come on, baby, let's go on an adventure. It's gonna be awesome."

Lucas looks at him and smiles and puts his arms around his waist.

''Yeah, it's gonna be awesome, but I don't like surprises. I wish she would've at least told us where we're going."

Eliott laughs as he closes the bag, then walks up to Lucas, kisses him fondly before he takes off his shirt. He lifts him by the back of his thighs before pressing his back against the wall while Lucas' legs surround his waist.

''Already, you love surprises, babe.''

Eliott slides two kisses down Lucas' neck before kissing his chest. 

''No'' corrects Lucas by wiggling as Eliott gently bites his nipple. ''I love that YOU surprise me. It's not quite the same.''

Eliott gently kisses his collarbone before licking his other nipple.

"You know if we're late, they're gonna come looking for us, right?

Eliott shakes his head and kisses Lucas again. Kissing Eliott is like having a conversation. There are the quick kisses, to say _I don't have time but I love you_ ; the tender ones to say _good morning_ or _I'll miss you_ ; the deep ones to say _I love you so much that I can't live without you_ ; the dirty ones, which Lucas calls snail kisses, to say _I want you_... Eliott is able to send hundreds of messages just with his kisses. And here, clearly, Lucas agrees with him: _I don't care._

Lucas pulls on Eliott's shirt to take it off but Eliott doesn't make any move to help him. Instead, he puts his hands in Lucas' shorts and caresses him gently, immediately provoking Lucas' moans. 

Eliott lets go of Lucas' mouth to go back to kiss his nipples while caressing him. Eliott smiles even before gently biting Lucas, because he knows he loves it.

''Damn it, Eliott!''

"Shit, guys!" Basile moans, apparently from behind the door. "We were wondering why you weren't downstairs."

Two knocks on the door and Eliott puts Lucas back on the floor with a sorry smile on his face.

''Oh guys'' shouts Yann ''if you're not here in 5 minutes, we're leaving without you.''

''Have fun!'' shouts Lucas.

Eliott opens the door laughing, while picking up Lucas' shirt from the floor before throwing it in his face.

''He's laughing, guys. We're ready to go. Right on time."

Basile sighs, rolling his eyes.

''Right on time? We've been waiting 10 minutes for you! It's a good thing your front door wasn't locked. Are you ready, Lucas?"

Lucas grunts as he grabs his bag.

''5 more minutes would have been better. But yeah, ready. So, where are we going?"

Yann shrugs his shoulders.

''No idea. Daphne said we'll know when we get there, but you'll be hallucinating when you see how we're going!"

Eliott closes the door to their apartment while Lucas already has Basile's arm around his shoulders pulling him down the hallway.

''Well? Ready for the best vacation of your life? Thanks for the idea, Lulu, Daphne is totally smiling again."

Lucas removes Basile's arm with a sigh, then turns to see Eliott talking to Yann.

"Do you know where we're going? I'm sure she's told you everything."

Basile shakes his head and laughs.

"No, I don't know. She didn't say anything to me, and I'm totally fine with it. She's so happy, she spent all week planning this. So surprise!''

Lucas smiles as soon as he sees the orange van in the parking lot of their building, surrounded by all their friends. 

"Katmandu, here we come!" Eliott screams as they put their bags in the van.

Daphne has a huge smile, and it's really good to see. 

''So, guys, did you forget or what?'' asks Emma.

''No,'' laughs Basile ''They were in the middle of something. I'm not sleeping in a room next to Lucas."

Lucas looks up at the sky while Eliott laughs.

"Is it true?" Arthur asks. "Guys, it's 9:00 in the morning!"

Lucas looks at him with a shit-eating grin on his face.

''Cause you're fixed schedule? Oh, God, your sex life must be so sad."

"I wouldn't say that." Alexia laughs as she wraps her arm around Arthur's waist. Arthur kisses her on the temple in return. 

"Everybody get in the car," Daphne yells as she opens the van doors. "Eliott, are you driving? I've already programmed the GPS. In 6:25 hours we'll be there. Honestly, Basile has driven all the way here, I've never been so scared in my life."

''It's not my fault, it's too big a vehicle.'' complains Basile.

Eliott chuckles and then looks at Basile.

''Don't worry, I'm good with big things, right, babe?''

He winks at Lucas while their friends burst out laughing.

''Okay'' says Lucas, ''Just for that alone, you deserve me to drive.''

"Let's go for a crazy week!" Basile yells as he gets in the van. 


	2. A good surprise

Finally, they arrive at the end of 8:30 drive because they stop several times, making fun of Basile's small bladder and then preventing him from drinking for the rest of the trip.

''So, are we going to the Lot?'' asks Lucas as he turns towards Daphne. (**The Lot is a department of France, above Toulouse**)

''Well done Sherlock! Yeah, given our budget and the time it took to find a location, we didn't have much choice, but here I found a number of great activities! Plus, I think you're really gonna like the house."

And, indeed, when they come to a huge house, all renovated, they all keep their mouths open. The house is amazing and clearly, they see the huge swimming pool in the garden and they all imagine they're already in it. 

''How can we afford to rent that?'' asks Arthur ''What's the deal?''.

Daphne pinches her lower lip and seems hesitant to say anything.

"Oh, God, there's a thing." Emma moans.

''Of course there's a condition'' says Lucas when getting out of the van ''Have you seen the pool? And the house? We can't possibly afford that."

''Well? Darling?" Basile asks softly, once they're all in front of the vehicle..

"Actually" finally Daphne says softly "the owners are dog breeders who are going on vacation. They were looking for dog-sitters. So we have the house to ourselves, but we have to take care of the animals at the same time. Like Basile's grandfather's house, actually. Except here we'll have a pool.''

Eliott's face lights up immediately while Arthur's face decomposes just as quickly.

''Okay" say Arthur "so maybe I should have said I was afraid of dogs, right? Please tell me they're little dogs."

The door to the house opens, letting out four huge, hairy white dogs.

''Not really.'' Lucas laughs.

''Oh, my God, they're so beautiful!'' Eliott crouches down to pet them ''I love them so much. This is gonna be the best vacation ever."

The blonde woman in her fifties who comes towards them looks at Eliott with such a smile that Lucas moves closer to him and puts his hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. He immediately feels like an idiot for doing this, but he doesn't take his hand away.

''Welcome back, youngs. I hope you had a good trip. I'm Astrid, welcome to our home. My husband's trying to get the bags packed. This is the first time we've ever been on a plane. In fact, it's the first time we've left our little piece of paradise. We really made up our minds at the last minute, and I'm really glad you're here. I really didn't think it would be so easy to find someone to take care of our companions. I think this vacation is going to do us all a world of good."

Everyone shows up and she signals them to follow her.

''We're taking in dogs from breeders who are too old, or have ''a defect.'' It's kind of like a haven for dogs, like a nursing home. We have the 4 patous, they are mountain dogs, here is Suzy our Husky, Mirabelle the labrador who is missing a leg, but don't worry, she can still beat you at the race. Annie, it's a 6-month-old cocker spaniel. She's adorable but very shy. This is Pongo, our deaf dalmatian."

"This one's for you," laughs Basile as he elbows Arthur.

The whole group bursts out laughing, even Arthur who feels obliged to explain to Astrid.

''Actually, I went deaf earlier this year, I can only hear through my hearing aids.''

Astrid nods her head and smiles.

''You guys really seem like a tight-knit team, it's nice to be able to laugh at everything. Mr. Savary told me you were really great and that he wishes you'd gone back to his place. But I'm really glad you're here."

Basile looks at Daphne shrugging his shoulders.

''What?'' she whispers ''I said we have references. Which we do. I just didn't say he was your grandfather, that's all."

''This is the nursery,'' Astrid says, pushing a bay window out onto a veranda where four white, already hairy puppies are playing with each other. ''They are 3 months old. Their mother died and we bottle-fed them, they will be adopted when we come back. Above all don't take them out without a leash because they are not yet trained and you would have a good time running after them.''

''And that's how you get free exercise.'' Alexia laughs.

''And this is our last protege.'' Astrid said, stopping at a door ''I tell you, it's him I'm most worried about because I'm the only one who can get close to him. Franck is really, really scared and becomes aggressive. So it would be nice to have only one person looking after him. We don't know what he's been through. He's probably six months old, he's a pug."

She opens the door and everyone looks at this little yellow fur ball huddled in the corner.

"Oh, he's so cute." Emma says as she walks in. "I'll take care of him, no problem."

Emma crouches down at the puppy, who barks at her and shows her teeth. But even like that, he's not scary. And tries to pet him, but the puppy runs across the small room to Eliott's foot.

Lucas freezes and widens his eyes. This is definitely the worst that could happen during the holidays. He looks at Eliott who bends down, a huge smile on his face and takes the puppy in his arms. And the puppy snuggling up to him. Eliott looks at Lucas before the same look he took when he had Fifi in his arms.

''At least we're not gonna eat this one.'' Basile laughs.

Eliott's smile falls off and Lucas gives his friend a black look, while Alexia tells the terrible story of Fifi.

''See, honey, I was sure Frank would find an ally among all these kids.''

They all turn to the guy coming down the stairs, two suitcases in hand, smiling at them.

''How do you do? I'm Michael. Honey, we have to leave in 10 minutes if we're gonna make the plane. Anyway, we've written you everything you need to know. Have fun, take care of the dogs and don't destroy anything. We haven't had a vacation in 15 years, so I want to leave with peace of mind. I just hope I don't regret it when I get home."

''Don't worry'' said Daphne smiling, ''everything's gonna be just fine here. We're really glad we get to keep your house and your dogs."

Arthur starts screaming when the labrador tries to climb on him and it makes everybody laugh.

''Arthur's gonna have to get used to dogs, but he'll be all right.'' Daphne says. 

Astrid gives them all the latest recommendations and shows them the little guide where everything is written down, especially knowing what to feed which dog.

They all stand in front of the house to greet the couple who leave and all turn around at the same time towards Daphne.

"Daphne'' says Yann with a really serious tone.

Daphne looks at them, and it's clear that she can't tell if her friends are delighted, surprised or if they would have preferred a traditional rental without dog' chores. Except Eliott, because he's clearly very happy.

''it's fucking great!" Alexia screams ''You're really great!"

"Tt's going to be a amazing fucking holiday." Shouts Eliott.

"First one in the pool!" Emma screams.

They all start running and Arthur's the first one to jump in the water, fully dressed. Probably because the dogs are running behind them. Lucas stops at the water's edge,puts his phone on one of the chairs and is about to take off his clothes but Eliott grabs him by the waist and they fall into the water at the same time.

''See, that was a good idea, babe.'' says Eliott ''We're gonna have a wonderful vacation. I'm so happy.''

Lucas wraps legs around Eliott's waist and kiss him tenderly before you scream.

''For Daphne, the best organizer in the world, Hip Hip Hip...''

And, of course, there's no doubt about the fact that everyone is shouting ''Hooray.''. Both those in the pool, fully dressed, and those who take the time to put off their clothes to swim in their underwear.

Everyone laughs when he notices that Daphné is already wearing her swimsuit under his clothes.


	3. A good photo

''OK, let's do a photo for Imane and Sofiane and arrange for the rooms.''

Everybody looks at Basile,coming out of the pool in his underpants. All the clothes of those that dived directly into the water about 20 minutes ago are drying around the pool. But Eliott comes out of the water, takes Basile's phone and puts it on the table, orienting it to take a picture of them with the self-timer.

"Ok, but Together, Baz! No one must be missing."

He sets the timer and pushes Basile into the water before he jumps in to stand next to Lucas. The photo is taken but Basile hasn't even come out of the water yet and they all burst out laughing. Lucas comes out of the pool, helped by Eliott who touches his buttocks more than he really helps him. He presses the timer before running and jumping into Eliott's arms. He does this three times before Daphne comes out to look at the pictures. 

''The second one's awesome. We should send it to Imane and Sofiane."

The smile on Daphne's face leaves them all speechless. It's so good to see her happy like that. Basile comes out of the water and puts his arms around Daphne's waist and puts his head on Daphne's shoulder to look at the picture.

''They're going to be green with envy!'' Basile says. 

''She's in Morocco'' reminds Emma ''in a beautiful house, with her boyfriend... not sure she's really jealous.''

Basile shrugs his shoulders but doesn't move.

"Do you think we could send one to Lola?" Lucas asks "to tell her we're thinking about her, or do you think it'll make her feel bad about not being here? Although I guess she's not allowed to have her cell phone."

Daphne's giving Eliott the eye, and Lucas says nothing because he was actually asking Eliott. He's the one who best understands how Lola works.

''I think she'd like that. In fact, for the past two days she's been allowed to check her phone with a psychologist and answer it. She's texted me a few times since then.''

Lucas is nodding his head and smiling.

''Okay, I didn't know that. That's cool."

There's silence around them and Lucas see the look on their friends' faces.

''Hey, it's okay, he doesn't have to tell me everything, okay? Basile doesn't know what Daphne's planning for our vacation and nobody's saying anything. It's all good. Okay? So love, send her the photo and tell her we're thinking about her. And now, Daphne, have you already decided who gets what room ?"

Daphne shakes her head in the negative.

"First one picks!" Lucas screams as he runs in the house, always dressed only in his wet boxers.

He is immediately followed by Yann and Basile, while Arthur seems frozen in the pool. Alexia and Emma start running, laughing, while Lucas sees Eliott pulling back the dogs so that Arthur can quietly get out of the water.

His friends go straight upstairs, but Lucas opens the doors on the ground floor and smiles when he finds a magnificent room with a double bed and an adjoining bathroom with a large Italian shower. A large bay window overlooks the pool and Lucas has no credit for finding this room as he saw it from outside. He opens the bay to call Eliott with a big smile.

"Mr Demaury's suite is ready!"

Eliott looks at the room, smiling, and huddles up to Lucas.

"I should have told you, I'm sorry, but"

''It's okay'' Lucas cut him ''I don't tell you every time the guys text me either. If you tell me it's okay, I'm fine with this."

Eliott nods his head.

"It's okay.''

Lucas kisses him gently before he backs off.

''Okay. So I don't mind hearing from her when you do. I really hope it goes well for her, but I get that you don't want to feel like you're telling me too much about her and you don't want to break her trust by confiding in you. Now, I'm gonna go get our bags from the car and we're gonna settle in and have a wonderful vacation. I've decided that nothing will upset me while we're here."

Eliott raised an amused eyebrow.

''Not even your mates? A week with your bros without getting angry? Can you believe that?"

Lucas passes the bay window laughing.

"Not really, but I can try."

When Lucas comes back with their two bags, he finds Eliott lying on the bed, wrapped in a towel with Franck lying next to him.

''Look how cute he is!''

Lucas only looks at Eliott. He's so beautiful when he's in that kind of awe. His smile is reflected right into his eyes and it's as if he's glowing.

''I'm looking at the most beautiful thing on Earth.''

Eliott looks at him, rolls his eyes and smiles a little bit more, even though Lucas would've sworn he couldn't. 

''Come on, babe, let's go with us.''

Lucas sighs and heads to the bathroom.

''I've got to dry off first.''

He grabs a towel, dries himself off and ties it around his waist. He can't shake the thought that Eliott's gonna be in terrible pain a week from now when he has to go back and leave this little puppy.

"My love?"

Eliott strokes the dog, which is now lying on his chest.

"Yes, babe?"

''You try not to get too attached to him, don't you? You know we're only here a week."

Eliott looks at the puppy and Lucas can't help but think : It's too late. Eliott's already completely fallen for that hairball.

''Sure, babe. I'm just giving him a hug till his mistress comes home. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Let me enjoy it while we're here, but I swear I didn't even think about putting it in our suitcase when we leave."

Lucas pouting, obviously not convinced, but lies down next to Eliott, trying to put some distance between him and the puppy, but wanting to be close to Eliott anyway. The puppy raises its head, jumps from Eliott's chest and crashes on the bed like a Budderball. He takes a few seconds to get back on his feet, then walks up to Lucas and huddles against his belly.

''See, he likes you, too. I totally understand why. Who couldn't fall in love with you at first sight?"

Lucas rolls his eyes and slowly comes over to hug Eliott while he caresses the puppy. 

''Okay, Frank,'' says Eliott as he looks at the puppy ''You can call us daddies.''

Lucas groans as he lets his head rest in the pillow.

''Eliott! Is this how you don't get attached?"

Eliott laughs as he lets his hand play with Lucas' wet hair.

''I'm kidding, I'm just kidding...'' He bends over to the puppy and he mumbles ''I'm not kidding at all, baby.''

Lucas is moaning again, but with a big smile on his face. 

''I heard you, idiot.''

Eliott laughs again as a high-pitched, shrill scream echoes through the house.


	4. A good evening

Lucas bursts out laughing while Arthur continues to scream.

''Holy shit, help! I swear I'm gonna get out of here and go back to Paris."

Arthur is standing on the kitchen table while the four white dogs jump around happily barking.

"They're nice as can be, Arthur." Lucas points out, stroking the biggest one "Stop being such a baby."

Arthur gives him a black look.

"Because you're never afraid of anything, are you? No stupid phobia?"

Lucas shakes his head and frowns, while Eliott looks at him with a raised eyebrow. Lucas elbows him. Eliott moves the dogs away and closes the gate that leaves them in the living room, blocking their access to the dining room and the kitchen. 

''Can we know why you're screaming like that?'' asks Emma as she comes down the stairs.

Arthur signals to her that it's okay and comes down from the table.

''I swear, if you leave me alone again with those monsters, I'm leaving this place. Where's Basile? He was with me, I just went to pee and when I opened the bathroom door, he was gone and the monsters were there.''

Eliott laughs and Lucas only now notices he's on the other side of the fence. He has wrapped his arms completely around the neck of one of the dogs and puts his face in his coat.

''Oh, yeah, that's a big monster, that is. He's so mean. My big, bad monster, isn't he?"

Lucas sighs rolling his eyes while Emma starts laughing.

"Who would have thought that Eliott was so gaga? This is so cute."

Arthur shrugs his shoulders.

"That's not too surprising. Have you ever seen him stroking Lucas' hair? Is he just as gaga?"

Lucas shakes his head and looks up at the sky.

''Nonsense. He never talks to me like that."

"He doesn't call you baby, either?"

Lucas sighs.

''It's not the same. Alexia calls you baby, too, right?"

Arthur shrugs his shoulders and Lucas smiles. 

''Basile went shopping with Daphne, Yann and Alexia. Daphne said they'd be here at 8:00pm." Suddenly Emma said as if she remembered.

And indeed, at 8.10 pm, the van pulled up in front oef the house and everyone helped unload the groceries.

''A week's worth of shopping for 8, for 450€, that's done'' Yann declared triumphantly.

There are moments in life that seem unimportant, and yet, we know right away that they will mark us. And that's exactly how Lucas feels at this very moment. Basile has made them his famous mushroom risotto and now that they have finished eating, they are all sitting on the pool deck, their feet in the water. And Lucas really wants to remember the moment when they were all together, quietly chatting over a beer.

''So, what's the plan for tomorrow?'' Alexia asks.

Daphne shrugs her shoulders and smiles.

''You'll see. We leave here at 9:15."

"What about tonight, let's play something?" Arthur asks as he raises his beer.

"Oh, yeah!" said Basile, winking "Truth or dare?"

Everybody's moaning. 

"Oh, Baz, how old are you?"

But Basile totally ignores his friends.

''Come on, truth or dare, but you can't choose who you ask. Everyone has to ask the person next to them and"

Basile stops for looking at them. And everyone smiles. They are all next to their partner, except Yann and Emma of course. Basile think and nod his head.

''Okay, so we ask the one next to our left neighbor. Like, Yann, go ahead, you ask Arthur."

Yann looks up at Arthur sitting next to Alexia.

"No surprise : Arthur, truth or dare?"

Arthur smiles at him and thinks.

"Action."

Yann clenched his victorious fist and threw a "Yes". Arthur already seems to regret his choice and everyone knows he's right to be wary.

"I want to see you give a hug to one of the dogs."

Arthur smiles and shakes his head.

"No way."

"No choice!" Basile says, "You chose action. Come on Arthur!''

Everybody's chanting it, which makes the dogs run around them. Arthur takes a breath, gets up, and heads for the Husky who's lying next to Emma. He touches him with one finger and announces that it is good.

''Oh, I said a hug.'' Yann remarks.

Arthur sighs and puts his hand on the dog. Everyone can see he's practically shaking. He jumps when the dog raises his head and goes back to his place so quickly that he almost falls into the water, but Alexia pulls him towards her, while everyone applauds him.

''I hate you guys. The first spider I see, I put it in your bed, Baz, just because it was your idea to play.''

"Uh, no thanks!" Daphne laughed.

"Alexia, you're next." Basile says.

Alexia looks at Eliott sitting next to Arthur.

''Okay, so Eliott. Truth or Dare?"

Eliott grabs a beer behind him and opens it before he says, "Truth."

Alexia takes a big smile and raises her eyebrows.

"What do you hate most about Lucas?"

Lucas moans as he drinks out of the beer that Eliott just opened.

''No shit? Really? What did I do to you?"

Alexia looks up at the sky laughing and looks up at Lucas.

''He always says you're perfect, so I wanna know what he doesn't like about you. There's gotta be something, right?"

"Is it physical or behavioral?" Eliott asks.

Lucas sighs and rolls his eyes.

"Both." Basile replies, leaning forward, obviously anxious to know.

Eliott retrieves his beer, takes a sip and smiles as he puts his arm around Lucas' shoulders.

''I don't like the nail on his left little toe, it's growing really weird. And I don't like that he doesn't see himself the way I do. That's clearly what I hate about him the most. If he could only see himself with my eyes."

Lucas turns around to kiss Eliott while Arthur moans "this sucks." Finally, Eliott pulls his feet out of the water to slide behind Lucas so he's between his legs, and Lucas leans back so his back rests against Eliott's chest.

''Okay,'' says Arthur ''So, Lulu, truth or dare?''

Lucas sighs. 

''I'm afraid to answer a question but I don't want to move. Okay, truth."

Arthur thinks. Apparently, he already had an action for Lucas but not a question. But Basile gets up and squats down to whisper in his ear, and Arthur's face lights up.

''If you could only keep one thing to do with Eliott, what would it be? Sexually, of course."

Lucas moans as he takes another sip of beer.

''Are we gonna spend all vacation talking about what I do in bed?''

Basile nods and smiles and Lucas throws his flip-flop in his face. Basile throws it back to him in the middle of the pool, laughing.

''Well? Lulu?"

"Definitely : Kiss Eliott. No doubt."

Eliott tightens his grip on Lucas and kisses him on the neck while everyone moans.

"Oh, Lucas" says Daphne "really play at least."

"Yeah, you suck." Basile says, giving him a blank stare. "Bad player!"

"We want a real answer!" Emma complains.

"Hey! It's true!" Lucas defends himself. "That's what I prefer. I can't conceive of sex without kissing. So if I had to choose one thing and keep one thing, then I don't care what the rest of it is, it's just the kissing."

''That's right,'' confirms Eliott ''He's always short on kisses. He needs it before, during and especially after. All the time. And I'm fine with that."

And as if to prove it, Eliott kisses him and Lucas moans softly as he runs his hand through Eliott's hair. Yann chokes on his beer and everyone turns to him.

''Sorry, I was imagining something because of the after. It was dumb. Go for it, Eliott."

Eliott frowns, but he looks at Basile.

"Baz, Truth or Dare."

"Dare."

''Cross the pool while surfing on the surfboard.''

Basile laughs, puts the surfboard down on the water and takes a run-up. His foot is barely on the board when he falls into the water fully clothed. He comes out of the water and tries again, which gives the same result. 

''It's just impossible! Give me an achievable challenge at least."

Eliott gives Lucas a head butt but he doesn't move.

''Hey, it's not my job to do this.'' Lucas complains.

''Please, babe.'' Begs Eliott, while kissing him '' Show him it's possible. ''

Lucas gets up and grabs the surfboard and puts it on the water. He backs up and throws himself. He reaches the opposite side of the pool and jumps next to Emma.

''Holy shit, Lulu, how do you do that?''

Lucas raises his eyebrows and laughs.

''When I was a kid, every summer my parents took me to the beach and I learned how to surf. It's almost like skateboarding, actually."

''Fucking Lulu'' moans Yann, ''Why do we feel like we never knew you?''

Lucas shrugs his shoulders and looks at him, he doesn't really understand what he means.

''Never mind the fact that we didn't know you were gay, I can imagine you weren't very sure of yourself until you were with Eliott. But there's everything else, Lucas. We didn't know you played the piano until Eliott said you did, and you got a fucking A on your music test, which is how well you play well. We found out you slept in the basement of the flatshare's house, like, three months ago. And even though it was two years ago, I can't believe you didn't tell us. The fucking basement, Lulu, can you believe it? You could have told me so I could help you. Last month, I found out your mom was in the hospital again from Eliott, and only because he thought you told us. And now we find out that you can surf. I'm supposed to be your Bro, and I clearly feel like I don't know anything about you."

Lucas turns red immediately and he gives him a black stare.

''Yann, what the hell are you doing? It's just surfing. What did you want me to say? That I loved surfing and didn't do it for six years because my dad didn't want to come on vacation with us and my mom couldn't handle it on her own? And that last year when we went to Vendée with Eliott I cried when I got on a surfboard because I felt so free. Yeah, I've been living in a fucking basement, and I couldn't tell you because I had a fucking crush on you and I didn't want it to destroy our friendship, because I'd already destroyed your relationship. Maybe I like having my own secret garden and I need my friends to respect that. My boyfriend does, so you could do it, too."

There is a heavy silence around the pool. Even the dogs are quiet. And Lucas realizes what he just said. He looks at Emma and then Eliott and runs off, barefoot in the grass. He crosses the fence that marks the boundary of the house and walks to the edge of the forest and sits down, putting his back against a tree, putting his head in his hands.

Just a few seconds later, a hand rests on his shoulder. He doesn't have time to react as he is pulled against it for a hug. Lucas puts his arms around him, he knows they will be fine. 

''So? A crush?''

Lucas sighs as he looks at him. That moment he clearly never wants to remember.


	5. A good scare

"Baby, it's time to wake up."

Lucas wiggles at Eliott's kisses but doesn't open his eyes.

"I sleep!"

Eliott kisses him on the tip of his nose.

"Wake up, sleepyhead."

He runs his hand through his hair and kisses him on the cheek.

"Did you sleep well, babe?"

Lucas opens his eyes and smiles at the wonderful sight of Eliott naked against him.

''Considering last night's events, yeah.''

Eliott chuckles with a raised eyebrow.

''Events? Is that what you call them?"

Lucas moans with a rolling of his eyes.

''Can we drop it? I don't really want to talk about this all through the holidays. Somebody here promised me the most amazing vacation ever."

Eliott giggles again and hugs Lucas' waist.

''Oh, it could have been worse. Luckily, I already knew that. Can you imagine if I'd found out about the crush like that? Come on, lulu, it's no big deal, and for the record, someone here promised he'd go a week without getting mad. Surprisingly, I thought it would be against Basile. Basile, who seemed really disappointed to hear you never had a crush on him, by the way."

Lucas sighs dramatically.

''Oh god, Baz. You should have told him that was the case just to flatter his ego. You know, I really thought I could do more than one day. But, shit, did you see the way he pissed off? Just 'cause I went through a fucking pool on a surfboard."

Eliott shrugs his shoulders.

"You have to try to understand him, babe."

''I know. But I told him, If he does something like that to me again, I'm gonna kill him. Thanks for letting him chase me down yesterday. I know you must have wanted to find me after that I got pissed off. But it was good that it was him. We had a good talk. I think there was too much unsaid between us. It was kind of weird talking to him about it, but it was far, far away, and he was more flattered than embarrassed after all, so it's cool. Anyway, it's Yann, we can't both stay angry."

Eliott nods as he kisses him.

''I'm glad everything's cool with you guys. I know how important he is to you."

Lucas opens his mouth to thank him, but knocks against their door.

"Oh, guys," yells Alexia, banging her fist on the door, "Daphne wants us in the car in 30 minutes, so if you want breakfast, now's the time."

Eliott kisses Lucas and then gets up to get dressed.

"I can't wait to hear what she has planned!"

Lucas stays in bed for a minute, arms folded under his head, watching Eliott, who already has sparks in his eyes, imagining an unlikely number of options for the day.

Eliott has the same sparks in his eyes when he parks the van, when the GPS announces that they have arrived. It's 9:59 and Daphne is playing back because they're on time, which is pretty incredible. Lucas freezes immediately and can't take his eyes off the equipment waiting behind a guy waving at them.

The guy's got to be in his 30s, same height as Lucas, maybe even shorter than him. He's got brown hair and a beard that looks good on him. But what Lucas is looking at are the numerous safety harnesses that are on the floor behind the guy. 

''Hey, Lulu, will you stop checking him out or what?''

Lucas is startled and realizes that all his friends have already got out of the van. Eliott watches as the guy walks up to them and gets closer to Lucas slamming the truck door.

''Nonsense. I'm just wondering why there's all these harnesses. I don't do rock climbing, Daphne."

Eliott puts his arm around Lucas' shoulders and pulls him towards him.

''There's no way you're gonna be alone while we climb, baby. You're coming."

Lucas shakes his head and the guy looks at them and smiles.

''Good thing I don't do rock climbing. Okay, so y'all get your gear and let's go. I'll be your instructor. My name is Eric."

''Instructor for what, if it's not rock climbing?'' asks Lucas.

Eric points to a spot on the edge of the forest and smiles, but that doesn't help Lucas at all.

''Just the opposite of climbing.''

Lucas is trying to figure it out while he puts on a harness. The instructor comes by one after the other and Lucas feels really uncomfortable when he comes to tighten his. And of course, all his friends notice because they giggle. 

''Relax, baby, it's gonna be great. Don't worry, I'll never be away from you."

Lucas looks at the headlamp Eric just handed them. And that's when he gets it.

"I'm not going underground, no way!"

Eric looks into him and smiles. 

''Don't worry. It's, Lucas, right? This is the easiest caving trip ever. Even kids can do it. There's hardly ever any accidents."

Eric hits the word "hardly " when he says it, which makes everyone but Lucas laugh.

''Come on, babe, I'm sure you're gonna love it.'' says Eliott as he puts his arm around Lucas' shoulders.

Lucas nods. He knows that Eliott is right. Lucas is always like that, he's always reluctant to try new things, and then finally he loves it and sulks when it's time to stop. At least that's a good summary of their day at Disneyland Paris in February. Lucas turned down every attraction, but Eliott managed to convince him every time and Lucas didn't want to go out anymore. But even if he knows it, it doesn't stop him from being worried about the day's progress.

''You stay close to me Eli, don't you?''

Eliott kisses him on the temple.

''Sure, babe. Always. And then with the lights on, you won't be afraid of the dark."

Lucas sighs.

''I'm not afraid of the dark, Eliott.''

Eliott giggles as he kisses him again.

"No, of course not, and Arthur's not afraid of dogs."

Lucas sighs again as he rolls his eyes. They walk into the cave, and frankly, it's pretty cool.And then with the nine lights on their foreheads, it's really well lit. The lights reflecting off the rock faces make them shine and it's absolutely beautiful. Lucas walks quietly hand in hand with Eliott and he even wonders why they are harnessed, until they arrive in front of a precipice.

''OK, we'll go down one by one.'' warns Eric ''Who feels like going down first?''

And of course, Yann offers himself. Nobody is surprised, Yann told them about all the caving trips he does with his father. It's clear that he's totally used to it. 

''Ok, it's easy. I'll hook you up, and you manage your descent thanks to the descender. Just let it glide smoothly. The faster you let go, the faster you go down. So just go slow."

Yann descends so easily that it seems easy. Emma follows him, then Alexia, followed by Daphne, then Arthur. It looks so easy in the end that Lucas feels ready. 

"OK, I"

"My turn." Basile warns, and he approaches Eric. 

Basile descends so fast, in the last few metres, that he crashes totally into Yann's arms, who falls to the ground in shock. The two boys laugh while Lucas steps back and signals to Eliott to go.

''Babe, you're gonna have to come down, you know.''

Lucas sighs and nods.

''Don't worry,'' says Eric laughing, ''and if I have to, I'll push him, but nobody stays back.'' He looks at Lucas and laughs. ''I'm just kidding, but we'll still have to go down, because we're not coming back this way, we'll go out another way.''

Lucas sighs and nods, but Eric waves to Eliott to approach.

''Come on, get down here, Eliott. You go down to the front, like this you can catch him when I throw him to you."

Eliott nods in jest, but Lucas doesn't think it's funny at all. It must be 10 meters down, but now that he's seen Basile go down and crash, it looks three times as high to him.

''Okay, I'll catch you down there, babe. Love you."

Eliott kisses him and almost jumps off, pushing the wall with his feet. 

''This isn't his first time, is it?'' asks Eric.

Lucas shrugs his shoulders.

''He did some climbing a few years ago, but he especially likes to climb the hard-to-reach places to put his signature on them.''

''Like urban climbing?'' asks Eric as he pulls up the carabiner that Eliott has just unhooked from his harness, now that he has reached the bottom.

"Yeah."

Lucas feels the stress build up when Eric hooks him the carabiner, and he does the one thing he should never do. He looks down. His friends look so small. He's shaking his head, he's never gonna be able to do that. At worst he's going to crash like shit, at best he's going to die in a fucking cave, the day before he turns 18!

''Ok. So we have two choices, either you come down now, or I'll hang you on me and you come down glued to me.''

Lucas looks at him and realizes Eric is not kidding.

''No, it's okay. If we go down together, my friends are gonna be talking to me about this for ages. I wouldn't survive this, so I might as well die crashing now. Okay, I'm going."

Lucas turns around, feels his harness tighten as he lets his weight drop and he finds himself sitting in the void, clinging to the rope that's supposed to bring him down.

''Super Lucas, you just have to let yourself go down easy.''

Lucas nods and slowly descends. Turns out it's actually pretty easy. He's halfway up when his foot hits the cliff and his knee gets scratched. Surprise makes him let go of the rope and he lets out a high-pitched scream before he finds himself suspended in the void.

''It's all right, Lucas, it's the safety system. You have to take the descender, pull it up a little to get the safety off, and then slowly come down again. Maybe I should have told you that you couldn't go down in one fell swoop."

Lucas looks up to see Eric smiling and then looks down at his friends underneath him.

''Come on, Bro, you can do it.'' encourages Yann.

Lucas sighs. But how did he end up here? But how can his friends take him away in such deliriums?

''Otherwise, you stay like that,'' chuckles Eliott. ''Personally, I love the view you're giving us.''

Lucas giggles along with all his friends. With the harness on his thighs, they must get a pretty good view of his ass.

"I never noticed his ass was so round." says Basile.

Lucas sees flashes illuminating the cave and he looks down to see all his friends, phone in hand taking pictures of him.

"It's clear," exclaimed Emma, "I've never seen his ass look so good."

''Oh yeah, he's got a perfect ass.'' Confirms Eliott.

Lucas is rolling his eyes. He needs to hurry down before the conversation gets out of hand. He climbs up to loosen the security system and slowly descends, landing softly in Eliott's arms. 

''Stop talking about my ass.''

Eliott puts him down on the floor, unhooks his karabiner and sends it back to Eric, kissing him while laying his hands on his ass.

''Never."

Once Eric joins them, they progress slowly, because they're in some kind of narrow corridor. Lucas marvels at the colours of the rock as the water runs over it. With the reflections of the lamps, it makes prisms of colors and it's just beautiful. Eric shows them how the sound resonates when it hits the huge stalactites and it's so melodious it's unbelievable. It's totally nature's treasure and Lucas loves it.

Of course, if they came down, there's a moment when they have to come back up...so they climb up some kind of wall of clay. Emma's the first to slide down it, but she catches up pretty easily. Basile slips and drags Lucas down, and even though Eliott tries to catch him, Lucas and Basile slide to the bottom of the wall. When they finally reach the top of the wall, they are absolutely disgusting. Daphne takes a picture of them laughing and Lucas curses himself for choosing a white sweater.

Lucas realizes that the path gets really narrow just as he has to let go of Eliott's hand to get behind him. And suddenly, he sees everyone crouching down in front of him.

Eliott turns around to show him the kind of tunnel they're supposed to go through and reaches out his hand.

''You wanna go ahead of me?''

Lucas nods, because it's clear he doesn't want to be the last one. They spend two minutes crashing into the walls, trying to switch places. Eliott takes this opportunity to kiss him.

''Oh, retards, what's up?''

''Yeah, I'm on my way.'' warns Lucas. 

He kisses Eliott one last time and squats down to crawl through the tunnel. 

''I've got the best view.'' says Eliott ''I love caving with you, baby. I confirm, you have a perfect fucking ass.''

Lucas chuckles, but the further he goes, the more it narrows and he's forced to crawl. There's a turn, and right now Lucas is clearly panicking. All of a sudden, he imagines he's stuck. It's totally stupid because clearly if his friends have passed by, he passes too, but he still feels the anguish taking him.

''Come on, baby, imagine how hard I'm struggling with my fucking big legs. I'm telling you, I must have started crawling way before you did. Don't worry, you're going everywhere, you're so fucking tiny."

Lucas laughs and crawls away. And soon he's forced to stop because Basile is stopped right in front of him.

"What's going on here?"

"Back to the open air." Basile explains as he walks along. 

Lucas sees a tiny hole where the daylight is coming from. And clearly, he can't get through that hole. Nobody can, can they? He watches Basile elimb into it, and Basile's feet flapping in the void. And clearly he can't get out. And all of a sudden, Basile disappears. And Lucas is certain that their friends pulled him out. 

Lucas goes into the hole, and finally he goes wide. It must have been some kind of fucking optical effect. But actually, when he tries to push on his feet to help himself out, his feet are beating in the void and he's hitting the rocks. So Yann and Arthur pull him up by his arms. 

He watches Eliott come out without any problem and rolls his eyes. Eliott is almost all clean, and he comes out of there with unequalled elegance while Lucas looks like a huge mess.

Then Lucas looks at his friends. There are clearly two categories of people: Daphne, Alexia, Yann, Arthur and Eliott are almost as clean as when they got there this morning, while Emma, Basile and Lucas are absolutely covered in dirt, mud, tiny pebbles. Basile and Lucas are even wet when they didn't actually see any puddles.

And of course, while they're in their underwear in the van on the way home, no one can help but laugh when Imane replies to the photo they sent him.

_'Did you try to leave them in the forest or something? Emma, Basile and Lucas look like they've been underground for three days._


	6. A good wake up

"Happy birthday, babe.''

Lucas's smiling but don't open your eyes. Only when he feels a lick against his cheek does he do it, and he backs away immediately.

''Oh, Eli, what is he doing here?''

Eliott looks at Frank as if he's finding out.

''Oh, what are you doing here, little baby? You come to wish Lucas a happy birthday? That is so sweet. Don't worry, he's always grumpy in the morning, it's not you. ''

Lucas rolls his eyes and turn on his side so he can pet the puppy.

''Thank you, Frank. I'll spend the day with you then, as my boyfriend thinks I'm cranky.''

Eliott giggling and try to kiss him, but Lucas pretends he's too busy with the dog to do that.

''First of all, I said grumpy and not cranky. And wait, I have a birthday present for you that will make you much less grumpy.''

Lucas smiles and lies down on his back with his arms spread out.

''Okay, but get the dog out of the way, we're not doing anything with him in our room.''

Eliott bursts out laughing and gets up.

''Oh, you little horny, I was talking about a real present.''

Eliott reaches into his bag and pulls out a little black velvet box.

"Don't panic, it's not a ring.''

Lucas sits down and rolls his eyes and smiles. He wouldn't panic. Well, maybe a little.

''I don't need a ring to know I want to spend my life with you anyway.''adds Eliott with a smile.

Lucas pulls Eliott towards him and kisses him.

"Me too.''

Eliott sits down and picks up the barking puppy from his lap before he hands the box to Lucas.

"So...Happy birthday.''

Lucas closes his eyes for two seconds, sitting down to imagine what's inside and then opens his eyes as he opens the box. There's a necklace with small silver mesh, and at the end is a puzzle piece with a picture of a raccoon designed by Eliott engraved on it. It sends a heart-shaped kiss. Lucas recognizes his drawing.

"You drew it.''

It's not a question, but Eliott nods in agreement, hanging it around Lucas' neck.

''Next year, when you're in school and you miss me, I'll be with you. And you will always be with me, too."

Eliott leans back and pulls a second box from his bag. Lucas' puzzle piece fits exactly into the puzzle piece in this box. The necklace is set on a silver chain with slightly larger stitches. It's so perfect. And of course, engraved on it of it is a hedgehog reaching for catch the kiss. Lucas takes it out of the box and puts it around Eliott's neck with a smile on his face.

''It's perfect, my love. Thank you so much. I love it so much, it's''

''Wait'' Eliott stops him ''The best part is, we can put extra pieces in between. You know, to complete our puzzle. So I got a bunch of pieces that just need to be engraved, and that way every member of our family will have one.''

Lucas pulls Franck from Eliott's lap and puts him on the bedroom floor before he jumps into Eliott's arms to kiss him.

''I'm so lucky to have you in my life, Eliott. Thank you, my love. Thank you, thank you.''

Eliott kiss him and he lets his arms run down his back.

''I'm the lucky one, babe.''

Lucas kisses his jaw and then his ear before he stops.

''When you say you bought a lot of intermediate pieces, it's like, how many pieces?''

Eliott looks at him with an amused look and raises his eyebrows.

"Like 15?''

Lucas swallows loudly and sits down next to Eliott.

''What? Why so much? I know we don't like being unique children, but 15?''

Eliott laughs and kiss him.

''No, Lulu. Of course there'll be some for our kids. But like two, maybe three. But the rest of them, I thought they'd go around a necklace. Someday I'm gonna convince you to get a dog and you're gonna love it so much you'll want another one, and then you'll fall in love with another one, and''

Lucas shakes his head looking up, but he can't keep his mouth from smiling.

"We ain't getting no 12 dogs, Eliott!''

Eliott shrugs his shoulders.

''Already, it's doable. Look here! And I didn't say all at once. But even if we get three or four at the same time, maybe in our lifetime we'll get 12...and then we can get a cat, a rabbit, maybe a snake. All right, we'll hang his piece in the terrarium. Maybe a bird. Oh yeah, I'd love to get a multicolored parrot. Damn, I should have bought more."

Lucas bursts out laughing. He likes that Eliott loves animals so much. Eliott is so happy when he talks about them.

''Sorry babe, I was just trying to plan ahead, afraid I wouldn't get any afterwards. If they stay in a drawer, that's okay, too. I shouldn't have told you about the middleman, right? Did I finally scare you?''

Lucas shakes his head and laughs.

''No, of course not. I love it. I really like that. You and me and our family in the middle because that's what we both create. I really like that. Much better than a ring, by the way.''

Lucas winks at him and Eliott laughs as he kisses him.

''Okay. Now your other surprise." says Eliott as he slips his hand under Lucas' boxers.

He gently removes it while kissing his chest, biting him gently with several kisses all the way down. Lucas lets his hand wander through Eliott's hair while he takes his sex in his mouth, playing gently with his tongue.

Lucas pushes his hips slightly so that Eliott takes him a little more and moans when he does, letting his head fall back.

''Fuck, Eliott, this is so good.''

Eliott smiles as he sucks it, Lucas feels it, and it makes him smile back. He knows that Eliott loves to be complimented.

"Kiss me, baby."

Eliott immediately goes back up to kiss Lucas, while continuing to caress him. As Eliott's tongue caresses his own, his thumb is gently dragging around his hole, and Lucas is gasping for air. Eliott knows he hates it when he teases him like that.

Lucas looks at him and Eliott smiles. He kisses him one last time before drawing a long line of kisses from his collarbone to his navel.

''Please, I want it.''

Eliott groans and takes his cock in his mouth as he slips his finger inside Lucas, who groans loudly. And of course, as he knows it by heart, Eliott finds his sore spot and presses it.

''Holy shit. Yeah.''

Lucas puts his hand in front of his mouth, remembering they're not alone in the house but Eliott finds his sore spot again and Lucas grabs the sheets and moans.

''I'm really close. I'm''

Eliott sucks him off faster, inserting a second finger.

"Can we come in?" asks someone knocking on the door.

Lucas can't even recognize the voice cause he's so far away. So he just yells back.

''Hell, no.''

Eliott takes it all back by inserting his fingers deeper.

''Hell, yeah, Eli. Yes.''

Lucas fully contracts and looks down to watch Eliott continue to suck him off as he comes and then he totally lets himself fall backwards. He takes two seconds to catch his breath before pulling Eliott towards him and sliding his tongue against Eliott's. He moans when he feels himself in his mouth. Yeah, he could never do without kissing Eliott. Never.

''Happy birthday, babe.''

Lucas sighs like he just ran a marathon.

''Thank you, love. Oh, God, that felt so good.''

He's kissing Eliott again when two knocks against the door sound again. And this time, Lucas recognizes Basile's voice outright.

''What's up, guys? Birthday sex, huh? Now, take a quick shower because we're waiting for you two and Yann wants us to leave in 20 minutes. He's turned Daphne's whole schedule upside down just for you, Lucas, so you better be on time.''

Lucas sits in bed watching Eliott.

"Why would Yann want to change the schedule? Can you believe he had the nerve to mess up Daphne's schedule? Why would he do that?''

Eliott shrugs his shoulders and smiles.

''Maybe he wants to please the birthday boy, but since I just did, he must have come up with another idea to please you.''

Lucas pushes Eliott around and laughs.

''You're so stupid. I can't even believe you just said that. Ok, come on, quick shower...Will you come in the shower with me? Maybe the birthday boy wants to make his amazing boyfriend really happy.''

Lucas comes out of bed, winks at him and jumps when something touches his foot.

"Damn it, Eliott, I said no dogs when we do stuff.''

Eliott leans over the bed to watch Frank and pet him.

''Stuff? Is that what you call it now? Hey, look, he waited patiently and quietly, look how perfect he is.''

Eliott gets up and walks to the bathroom laughing.

''Don't move, Franck. You don't wanna see what's gonna happen in there.''

Lucas bursts out laughing as he pushes Eliott in front of him to close the bathroom door.


	7. A good day

Lucas looks at Yann driving the van and he can't help but wonder what to organize today. He can't help but smile when he thinks that soon too he will be able to get his license and drive.

''I won't say anything, Lulu, so eat. I'm sorry you didn't get a proper breakfast for your 18th birthday, but if we're not going to miss our turn, we have to be on time. All you had to do was get out of your room early but I understand that it was difficult to ask you that."

Lucas looks at Eliott sitting next to him and smiles.

"Oh, I'm not sorry at all, it was totally worth it to miss breakfast."

He starts eating a muffin but his phone vibrates and he almost drops it when he sees it's his mother texting him. She's been better for a week but he still hesitates to open it. He doesn't want to be sad or worried today. Three weeks ago she sent him a message telling him that the apocalypse was near and that he should go to church to repent of his sins, because he should not live with a man. It was the first time she talked about his homosexuality like that, and even if he knows that she was not well and that in these cases it is not necessary to listen to what she says, Lucas really suffered.  
Lucas tried to keep it to himself for two days but he was so upset that Eliott gently pushed him until he told him what was wrong with him. 

And as if he was reading him, Eliott wrapped Lucas' hand around his phone.

''Do you want me to watch?''

Lucas nods his head and gives him his phone. Eliott puts on a big smile and gives the phone back to Lucas. 

''Oh, my God, babe, that's so cute. You're so cute!''

Lucas looks at the picture. It's a picture of him as a baby. Probably the day he was born. He's in a hospital crib with his eyes wide open and next to him is a little stuffed giraffe.

_Eighteen years ago an incredible boy was born. He kept his eyes wide open to the world for hours after his birth. This boy amazed my life and he continues to do so to this day. I'm so proud of what you've become, big boy. You are an extraordinary son, a loving boyfriend and a great friend. I love you with all my heart. Mom._

_Ps: hi to Eliott and your friends. Have fun on your vacation._

Lucas doesn't know what makes him happiest: the picture, whether mom is proud, whether she loves him, or just she remembers that he's on vacation with his friends. It clearly means she's getting better.

"Oh, you were so cute" says Alexia as she looks at the picture. 

''Show me!'' Daphne asks, almost ripping his phone out of her hand. ''Oh, so cute. Basile, when he was born, he looked like a monkey, the pictures are almost scary."

Everybody turns to Basile, who is sticking out his tongue.

''But he always looks like a monkey!'' Yann signals, laughing, before exclaiming ''We've arrived! Lulu, happy birthday!!"

Everyone looks through the van window at what Yann is pointing at. And Yann points to a lake, on which a boat is pulling a buoy.

''No? Is that true ? Are we going to do that?" Basile asks, overexcited.

Everyone laughs because it's clear that Basile will never last more than two seconds, but apparently Basile doesn't care.

''Yeah.'' confirms Daphne ''Yann decided that night. So much for the hike I planned, I think Yann's idea is much better."

Lucas puts his hand on Yann's shoulder as he parks the van.

"Thanks, bro, you didn't have to do that, but I'm really happy."

Yann puts his hand on Lucas' and turns to smile at him.

''There wasn't surfing nearby, but I thought it'd be nice to be on the water for your birthday. Come on, we've got to be there in less than two minutes."

They all almost run out of the van, almost all excited. The monitor sends them back undressed and they all come back in their bathing suits. They put on their life jackets and climb onto the boat. There may be two of them on the towed buoy. As it's his day, Lucas is designated as the first, and as it was his idea, he asks Yann to start with him.   
Yann holds on for at least 4 minutes, while Lucas stays longer but ends up dropping out in a bend.

When they get back on board, Alexia and Daphne take their places. Alexia laughs so much that she lets go almost immediately. Daphne holds on longer, but not much. An incredible number of battles follow to see who can hold on as long as possible. Basile is definitely the one who's holding out the shortest but Eliott cheats by tickling Lucas as they both find themselves on the buoy and Lucas is falling into the water even faster than Basile was.

In the end, Emma and Eliott hold on the longest. Lucas is sure it's because they are tall and they manage to grab the end of the buoy with their feet.

The monitor accelerates and turns so abruptly that Emma rolls straight on Eliott and they fall into the water at the same time. And Basile, surprised by the turn, falls off the boat at the same time. Lucas's laughter resounds all the way to the edge of the lake. And everyone breathes a frustrated sigh when the monitor brings them back to the edge after two hours.

''It was just fucking brilliant, thank you very much.''

Yann puts his arm around Lucas'shoulders and squeezes it gently.

''You deserve it, Lulu. Maybe sometimes you're cranky, and sometimes you yell and we don't know why, and sometimes you're a pain in the ass for not telling us about your life, but you're a great friend. You deserve all that. But now you're clearly going to jump in the deep end."

Lucas looks at him frowning.

"What do you mean?"

"Like that!" Yann says, pointing to a giant fucking air mattress. 

Lucas is watching two guys throwing themselves on the mattress. When they crash into it, a girl who was lying on the other side of the giant mattress gets propelled into the water.

''Oh, my God."

''Yeah,'' confirms Yann ''and since you've got a lot of friends, you're gonna learn to fly, Lulu. We can jump at four at the same time if we want. Ready, guys?"

Lucas shakes his head and everyone laughs. Five minutes later, he's waiting, lying on the mattress and his friends climb up to the diving board. He doesn't even know if he wants to see them jump on the mattress or if he'd better close his eyes. He doesn't have time to choose whether Basile, Arthur, Yann and Eliott jump, all holding hands. He vaguely hears a "Happy Birthday, Lulu" and the next moment, Lucas is flying straight up. He has no idea how long he stays in the air before being swallowed by the water, but it seems like hours to him. 

''Holy shit, this is awesome!''

They spend the next 30 minutes getting robbed of each other. Daphne is definitely the one that flies the highest. And Arthur's definitely the one who screams the loudest. 

When they come out of this, Lucas is a bit dizzy, but Basile doesn't even seem to be able to walk properly anymore, so it must be normal. It must be said that they raced to find out who would climb the diving board the fastest. They all go back to the van and he notices he's three missed calls from his dad. 

He walks away from the van to call him back while everyone has a drink, cause it's getting really hot. It's a beautiful sunny day and now that they are no longer in the water, Lucas notices how hot it is.

_"Lucas?"_

"Hey, Dad, are you okay?

_''I'm fine, how are you? I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. I hope you're having a good time celebrating. 18 is really something to celebrate."_

Lucas nods his head and looks at his friends gathered around the van laughing.

''Yeah, it's really great. We're spending the day around the lake, and we're doing all kinds of activities. Yesterday we went caving. It was really great. It's a really good vacation."

_''I'm happy for you, Lucas. You really deserve it. I'm really glad we're both doing better, and I'm really glad you're giving me a chance to make up for my mistakes. I just made a transfer for your birthday, enjoy it with your friends, or with Eliott, or just for you, it's what you want. Is it still okay for us to eat together next Friday with Eliott?"_

"Yeah, sure and thaks dad."

There's a silence on the line, and Lucas is watching to see if the conversation's off.

_''I think the four of us could get together for your birthday, don't you think?"_

Lucas sighs. He knows his dad's had a girlfriend for a year, but he doesn't feel ready to meet her.

"I don't know if I'm ready for"

 _''No, not Alexandra''_ cuts it off his father _''I was talking about your mother. It's your birthday, Lucas. I know we're not a perfect family, but the four of us could get together for it. I mean, if you want. And if she want, too."_

Lucas couldn't smile more. He feels stupid tears coming up in his eyes and turns around the moment he notices that Eliott is watching him. He quickly wipes them away by nodding his head.

''Yes, of course. If Mom's still okay by then. We're going to see her on Thursday with Eliott, I'll talk to her then. Thanks dad, it means a lot to me."

_'' You mean a lot to me, Lucas, and I’m sorry I took a long time to realize this. Ok, I'll let you enjoy your day. Love you, big boy."_

''Thanks, Dad, love you, too.''

He hangs up smiling. He joins his friends almost jumping for joy.

"Are you okay, Lulu?" Daphne says, "You look a little pale."

Lucas jumps up and shakes his head.

"What?" he says. "No, I'm fine. I'm doing incredibly well, actually. So what do we do now?"

He notices everyone's looking at him frowning and he grabs the beer Yann just uncorked to drink it.

"Oh, I'm fine, stop looking at me."

He's so thirsty because of the heat, he drinks half the beer down in almost a sip. They all decide to go for a picnic in the shade. Lucas wants to take one of the coolers, but Eliott grabs his hands.

''Are you sure you're Ok, babe, you look weird.''

Lucas kisses him on the cheek and smiles.

''I've never been better in my life. I have a wonderful boyfriend, great friends and both my parents wished me happy birthday and my dad would like my mom to eat with us on Friday. I couldn't be better. My life is so fucking wonderful, I almost feel like crying!"

Eliott nods his head as he lifts the cooler. Lucas takes five steps and then a shrill whistle blows in his ears. He drops his beer on the floor, puts his hands over his ears and the floor starts spinning around him. Everything turns black all of a sudden and he just feels his forehead hitting the ground. 


	8. A good present

Lucas is looking at his forehead in the bathroom mirror. But why did he have to fall on his beer bottle and open his forehead? Talk about a nice birthday memory...

"You're okay, babe?"

Lucas sighs, then looks at Eliott's reflection in the mirror and smiles at him.

''Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be okay? Because I wasted our whole afternoon passing out and I made it four hours in the emergency room so I could get six stitches?"

Eliott slides his arms around Lucas' waist and kisses him on the neck.

''Nobody cares, babe. We were just worried about you. And then the girls were happy to go shopping until we got out the hospital. The guys seem to be okay, but they're still worried, you know. Come on, they're waiting for us to walk the dogs. It'll do you good to walk quietly. And it'll be good for them to see that you're all right."

Lucas nods. It's clear that after spending 4 hours waiting in a chair for a doctor to come and remove the shards of glass from his forehead before closing it again, he feels like walking.

''Still, you didn't eat much this morning either, and you've been working out all morning and you haven't fainted. I'm 18 and I feel like I'm 40. I feel too old."

Eliott shrugs his shoulders and giggles.

''Nonsense. And even when you're 40, you'll always be my baby. We're not all equally resilient, and you didn't eat much last night either because you were tired from caving, remember? And you drank your beer maybe a little too fast. And you had a lot of emotions about your parents. It's mostly a big set of things that made you feel bad. Anyway, now you've eaten, you've drunk water, you're better, right?"

Lucas looks in the mirror.

''Yeah, but I'd remember that birthday by looking in the mirror every day. You heard what the doctor said, he's sure I'd have a fucking scar. A fucking scar to remind me how clumsy I am."

Eliott's kissing his temple right next to the wound.

''Mm... guys with scars are so sexy.''

Lucas laughs. Eliott's so ridiculous sometimes. But it's so cute.

''It's sexier when you don't know how it happened, I guess.''

Eliott giggles and gently kisses his neck. 

''Come on, I'm gonna get our baby, and we're gonna go.''

Lucas sighs and lays his head back on Eliott's shoulder.

"I thought you were careful not to get attached to him, Eliott? You know you're gonna be in a lot of pain when we leave, don't you?"

Eliott shrugs his shoulders and hugs Lucas.

''Don't worry about me, babe, I'm a big boy.''

Lucas giggles as he rolls his eyes.

''The day I stop worrying about you, you should be worried, my love. I love you way too much for that. So don't count on it, it'll never happen."

Eliott kisses him several times, whispering that he loves him before he leaves. Lucas looks one last time at his reflection in the mirror, cursing that awful band-aid and joins his friends outside. And surprisingly Arthur is there too. He, who had promised never to come to walk the dogs, it seems that two days spent here are enough to make him go back on his silly promise. 

"Look at, Lulu!"

Arthur signs and the Dalmatian sits down.

"It's huge" laughs Arthur, "it's the same signs as for us. I like that dog. Look, he even walks next to me without a leash. So I'm coming, but don't let the others near me, okay? I'm not kidding. Alexia sent a picture of me with Pongo to my mom, I swear she almost went into cardiac arrest, that's how much progress this is for me. Okay, I'm ready."

Arthur signs and the dog comes and pulls up beside him and seems to be waiting for him to signal for a walk. Lucas nods his head and Eliott's hand slips into his. He holds Frank's leash which is attached to a ridiculously small harness. He looks really small compared to the other dogs. Yann holds the husky who seems in a hurry to walk while Emma holds the female Labrador. Basile has hung the four patous on his waist with a belt and he holds his skateboard in his hand.

"You're not going to do that, Baz?" Yann asks as he sees him coming.

Basile nodded and smiled and got on the skateboard. He's immediately pulled by the dogs. And for 30 seconds, it seems to work. Then a rock makes the skateboard jump and Basile glides away. 

''Okay, bad idea'' he says as he gets up ''I'm just going to walk, finally.''

''Hell, yeah, Lucas already used the right one for the hospital.'' Arthur says ''One trip to the hospital is enough for the whole week.''

Everybody laughs, except Lucas rolls his eyes and Eliott kisses Lucas on the forehead and then they start walking.

"What about Daphne and Alexia?" Lucas asks, looking back.

''They stay with the puppies and Annie, that poor cocker spaniel is too scared of us to come'' says Emma, smiling, ''Come on, Lucas.''

They go up a path through the forest that leads to a clearing. It is clearly the dogs that show the way to the young people. Eliott gives Franck's leash to Lucas and unhooks the 4 dogs from Basile's belt before starting to run calling them. Lucas sits down in the grass and Franck comes to sit on his lap. Arthur and Yann are talking, sitting a few meters away from them, Arthur signs to Pongo with a huge smile.

"Why don't you have any animals?" asks Emma as she comes to sit next to Lucas.

Lucas looks at Eliott, who throws a stick, laughing. Basile runs to try to join him while Eliott bursts out laughing when one of the dogs jumps on him, it's clear that he is totally happy. Lucas shrugs his shoulders.

''I don't know. It's... it's a responsibility. I don't really know, actually. Every time he really talked about it, he'd get into an episode and it would become an obsession for him. And then when he got better, he wouldn't talk about it anymore, so I guess I'm afraid he'd get bored of it. That it would make him super happy at first, but after a few months he'd start to break away from it, and then he'd get tired of it and he wouldn't want it anymore."

Emma looks at him with her head tilted to the side with a slight smile on her face.

''Are you talking about an animal or your relationship right now?''

Lucas thinks and shrugs his shoulders. Emma immediately puts her arm around Lucas' shoulders and sighs.

''You're a total idiot, Lucas! Eliott is madly in love with you, and this has nothing to do with a whim."

Lucas closes his eyes and he's back in front of the houseboat. He knows it wasn't true, but Lucille's words will never leave his head. A blow to the back of his head takes his mind off it.

''You're a fucking idiot! Eliott would do anything for you. I'm sure if he doesn't bring it up when he's feeling better, it's because he thinks you don't want it and you're only saying yes to please him. He just doesn't want to force his choice on you, that's all. You're both idiots!"

Eliott runs towards him laughing and comes to lie down next to him putting his head on one of his thighs, while caressing Frank who sleeps on his other leg.

"What are you talking about?"

Emma gets up and smiles.

''I was saying you two are idiots. But you're both cute idiots."

She calls for Mirabelle to get up and walk to Basile who's sitting in the middle of the clearing with the four dogs lying around him.

"Why is she saying that?" Eliott asks, turning to look at Lucas.

Lucas shrugs his shoulders and smiles then bends over to kiss him.

"I love you, you know?"

Eliott smiles at him and puts his hand on the back of Lucas' neck to pull him back in a kiss.

"Not as much as I love you, it's not possible."

Lucas smiles as he kisses him again.

"Shall we go home?" asks Yann.

"Damn, Basile, get away with your monsters, please." Arthur shouts when Basile runs towards him.

Lucas smiles because he's sure that if there was a table here, Arthur would climb on it. They hang up the dog leashes and Lucas carries Franck who keeps sleeping all the way home. 

''Frankly, he's more active in Men in Black'' laughs Lucas.

''Oh, fuck!'' shouts Basile ''Oh, yeah! It's just like in the movie. I love this dog!"

They all burst out laughing and laughing again when they get home. There's streamers and balloons all over the terrace, all blown up. 

''Happy birthday Lucas!'' screams Alexia as she leaves the house with a huge cake and a huge birthday present.

Lucas shakes his head and smiles.

''Oh god, you guys are unbelievable! Thank you so much. Thank you. You guys are so"

"Come on, Lulu," he calls Daphne, "come blow, or we'll eat wax."

Lucas walks over to the cake and blows out the candles, while Franck, still in his arms, tries to lick a piece of the cake. He looks up once all 18 candles are out. And he feels so happy. He was absolutely right at lunch: his life couldn't be more perfect. He has everything he needs around him: his friends, his boyfriend, their dog, nothing could be more perfect.

Lucas realizes what he just thought and looks at the little pug. Damn it! He's worse than Eliott after all. He surprises himself counting the days. In five days they'll have to leave and leave him. Fuck, he might suffer more than Eliott after all.

"What's up, babe?"

Lucas looks at Eliott, who's already revealed his worried boyfriend face. He gives him the puppy and then strokes his cheek trying to smile.

''Of course I'm fine. I'm just so happy, I just don't want to leave here at the end of the week."

"See!" Daphne laughs. "I told you! In the meantime, open your present!"

Lucas walks up to the huge cardboard box and looks at his friends, all smiling.

''You guys are completely crazy!'' he says before he rips the paper off.

He opens the cardboard box, he discovers a shape wrapped in rainbow gift wrap paper that leaves no room for imagination, a card and a square box. He grabs the card first. And he laughs as soon as he reads the phrasing written on it.

_18 is a great age, because you're allowed to do everything you've been doing since you were 16, but now it's legal! So enjoy it._

Inside the card, all his friends wrote a note, even Imane and Sofiane, and Lola, and the whole Mif. Lucas burst out laughing as he read Jo's note.

_''You're getting old, uh? If you can't keep up with Eliott, let me know, I'll come help you, buddy! Until you call, happy birthday! Jo-the ninja princess._

Lucas is unpacking the skateboard. The wrapping really left no doubt about the gift.

''It's from all of us'', Yann simply said.

Lucas nods with a smile and discovers a beautiful skateboard. The top of the skateboard is totally Pollocked and reminds him of the fresco. It's a magnificent explosion of colours. And under the skateboard, his name is written.

''It's so beautiful! Thanks, guys! She's so beautiful."

Lucas throws it on the floor and tries it on before he jumps up and grabs it in his arms and comes back to open the last present. Inside the box, there is another box, then another, then another...and it goes on like that for several boxes before Lucas is moaning.

"How long am I gonna keep this up?"

Everybody shrugs and smiles as Lucas counts the boxes he's put on the table. There are 15 boxes on the table. Theoretically, he can assume that they put 18. And maybe there's not even a gift in the last one. It would look so much like them.

Lucas opens the box to find another smaller one inside and he rolls his eyes.

''Oh, a box! How amazing.''

He opens the next box. And of course inside, there's a box. Lucas opens it with a sigh, almost expecting to find another one inside. His friends would be able to make him do this for hours. 

But instead, inside the last box, there's an open box with two silver rings. 

Lucas' mouth opens slightly as he turns pale. He looks at Eliott who comes towards him and kneels down on the ground right in front of him.

''I know I said I didn't need it to know I wanted to spend my life with you. But I do. I want to spend my whole life with you, Lucas. Today you're coming of age and you're officially allowed to make the big decisions about your life, and I didn't want to spend another day without asking you: Lucas, will you marry me?"

Lucas blinks twice before he jumps into Eliott's arms.

''Yes. Yes, my love. A thousand times yes. In all the universes."

He can barely hear all their friends yelling and clapping as Eliott gets up and hugs him. Eliott grabs the box from the last box, his smile and his gaze could not be brighter. 

"Why are there two rings?" asks Basile, bending down to get a better view.

''shhhh, you're ruining everything.'' Emma grumbles as she pushes him away. 

Lucas laughs while Eliott pulls out the two rings.

''Hey, I want one too.'' says Eliott. ''I want everyone to know I'm engaged to the most wonderful man in the universe.''

He puts the ring on Lucas' finger, then gives him the second ring and extends his hand in a kiss. Lucas grabs the ring and...he'll never know what he did but the next minute the ring falls to the ground and rolls perfectly to the pool before diving in. 

Barely two seconds later, it's a fully dressed Lucas who jumps into the pool while all their friends are laughing.


	9. A good night

"Oh, my God, Eliott, I'm so ashamed.''

Eliott laughs, covering him with kisses.

''You made my proposal 1,000 times more memorable, baby. I love you so much. It's so much you. Now stop moving so I can put a clean band-aid on your war wound. You should have let me redo your band-aid before dinner."

Lucas sighs as he looks up so Eliott can put a dry bandage on it. Which he does with the most delicate gestures in the universe. They just got out of the shower, so they're both just wearing towels. Eliott pulls Lucas up to their bed and they lie down in front of each other, their noses gently brushing against each other.

''Basile is so right, I'm the clumsiest guy in the universe.''

Eliott shakes his head and smiles.

''Nonsense. Basile inherited the title when he stumbled onto the same high school bench for the third time in less than 10 minutes. He's just saying that just to annoy you."

Lucas nods and smiles and looks at his ring.

''Are you sure about this,Eli? You know I'm not easy. Besides, what if I end up getting my mother's disease? I don't want you to feel trapped with me."

Eliott's gently squeezing him. 

''I'm sure I love you, Lucas. Like I've never loved anyone before, and I want to make a life with you. You know there's only a 7% chance you're schizophrenic and a 100% chance I'm bipolar. Even if my asshole brain has ever made you feel otherwise, I don't feel trapped with you at all. Only when I'm with you do I feel good. I feel like myself. But if you have any doubts"

Lucas is gently pushing him to shut him up.

''I have no doubt, Eliott. I love you and I want to grow old with you and your asshole brain."

Eliott laughs and gently presses himself against Lucas, kissing his neck.

''You're so wonderful, Lucas. I want to be able to call you my husband. I want to be able to tell the world I'm incredibly in love with you. I want to start a family with you. I want to hold you when you're not well and be able to be with you when I need you. I love you so much."

Lucas uses his legs to flip them over so Eliott can lie underneath him. 

''I want to make love to you until my last breath.''

Eliott opens his eyes a little more and leans forward on his elbows to reach up to Lucas.

''Well, let's start now, then.''

Lucas nods his head as he puts his hands on the back of Eliott's neck. He feels Eliott getting hard underneath him and moves slowly over his dick.

"You?" Eliott asks him gently, stroking his cheek.

Lucas looks at Eliott and shrugs his shoulders. The truth is, Lucas doesn't care how they make love. He doesn't really have a preference, it's just different. All he wants is to be in perfect harmony with Eliott. Eliott likes him to be the top, except for some times. Sometimes, Lucas understands that, it happens a lot when Eliott needs comfort, when he needs to be sure that Lucas loves him. But sometimes, Eliott wants it for no reason at all, and that totally goes for Lucas too. So Eliott chooses, because Lucas knows he has to really want it to be relaxed enough for be the botom.

And since Lucas doesn't answer, Eliott nods his head and smiles at him.

"I want you to fuck me, Lucas."

Lucas nods his head before he kisses him.

''Till my last breath, my love.''

Lucas slowly peppers Eliott's chest with kisses then opens his towel before taking it in his mouth. Right away, Eliott's hand gets lost in Lucas's hair. He gives a few strokes of the hip to follow the rhythm of Lucas' mouth.

Lucas lets Eliott's cock come out with a pop, before caressing him again, letting his tongue run along Eliott's skin, up to his hole. He licks it gently, just the way Eliott likes it, while continuing to caress it.

"Babe, come on."

Lucas comes up to lie down on top of Eliott so he can kiss him. 

''I need you, Lucas. I need you.''

Lucas smiles. He loves to see Eliott so eager. It doesn't matter if he's eager for Lucas to take him or not, he just loves it when Eliot has that deep, begging voice. Then he reaches the lubricant they put on their bedside table when they arrive and puts some on his fingers and then Eliott's cock. 

He lets a finger go into Eliott while caressing him. The idea of having a warming lubricant was a fucking good idea. Eliott moans, moving his hips so that Lucas' hand caresses him more.

"Come inside me, babe."

Lucas shakes his head and puts a second finger in Eliott.

''You must be patient, my love. Soon."

Lucas drops Eliott's dick because he knows him well enough to know if he keeps it up now, he's gonna come. He comes up between his legs to kiss him while slowly spreading his fingers inside Eliott groaning in his mouth.

''If you don't come now''

''Shh.'' Arrests Lucas. ''No threats, sweet fiancé.''

Eliott moans and Lucas doesn't know if it's the use of that word, or because Lucas pulled his fingers out. Lucas straightens up and lines up against Eliott who locks his legs around Lucas' waist.

Lucas kisses him and then gently pushes inside him. He closes his eyes because this is always the most difficult moment for him: to control himself and go slowly so as not to hurt Eliott.

''Look at me."

Lucas opens his eyes by blowing through his nose while Eliott gently pushes his hips with his legs to get him closer. Lucas kisses him gently all over his face, both hands lost in Eliott's hair.

Eliott slightly nods his head and Lucas moves back before gently coming back, provoking their groans. He starts again, slightly increasing his pace.

''My fiancé.'' Eliott groans.

Lucas moans back, letting his chest fall on Eliott's.

''My future husband.''

Eliott moans and Lucas smiles at him while grabbing his thighs so that Eliott's legs rest on Lucas' shoulders. That way he can play with the depth and tap directly into Eliott's sore spot.

''Hell, Lucas, yeah.''

Lucas steps back and hits that spot a second time.

''Lucas, you're gonna make me come over there.''

Lucas smiles as he does it again.

"That's the point, man of my life."

Eliott groans and Lucas quickens the pace, chasing his own orgasm. Eliott reaches out to caress himself, but Lucas grabs both his hands and intertwines their fingers. He moves his shoulders slightly so that Eliott's legs fall back on the bed and lies on top of him while hammering him.

''Come for me, my love.''

Eliott gasps, and Lucas accelerates, pushing as far as he can.

''I... Fuck... Lucas.''

Eliott reaches all the way up before he comes over their torsos and Lucas immediately comes over, moaning words of love and then he totally crashes into Eliott, who hugs him.

''I love you so much.'' Eliott whispers.

''I want us to get a dog.'' Lucas says.

And they burst out laughing.


	10. A good escape

''Don't you think you're too young?'' Arthur asks while they're in the van ''Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad you guys got engaged, and it was really cool to celebrate together. And watching Lucas get the ring back out of the water was memorable. But I've been wondering for two days how you can be so sure of yourself at 18?"

Lucas doesn't miss the glare all their friends give him, but Arthur just shrugs his shoulders.

''I don't believe there is such a thing as a perfect age.'' Lucas just says, ''And then Eliott hasn't been 18 for several years.'' Lucas winks at Eliott, who giggles before he continues. ''I know he's the one. I know I want to make a life with him. I know that some couples feel that way and then break up. But if we stick with that thought, we'll never get started, right? No matter how old you get, no couple can ever be sure it's gonna last forever. But I want to believe it, and I really hope it does. So in the meantime, I want everyone in the world to know that I love this guy. And then, at his Urbex parties, everyone will see his ring and know his heart's is already taken. Even Jo."

Eliott bursts out laughing and looks at Lucas before he looks again at the GPS directions.

''You know Jo doesn't have anything for me. And anyway, everyone already knows I have a wonderful boyfriend. But I'm glad that next year at college everyone knows you're already all mine."

Lucas is giving his seat belt a little slack so he can kiss Eliott's cheek.

"I'm all yours."

Emma sighs as she rolls her eyes.

''Sounds very S.M, when you put it that way. Are you in?"

Lucas looks at her and then looks at Eliott, who stops laughing.

''Okay, so what I'm doing in bed is really the conversation we're having in the van, too?''

All his friends are nodding and giggling.

"Come on!" Basile begs "Tell us."

Lucas shakes his head.

"No," says Eliott without taking his eyes off the road. "We're not S.M. Nothing weird. Sorry."

Lucas chuckles when he sees Basile's disappointed expression.

"What's the weirdest thing you guys do?" asks Arthur.

Lucas shakes his head.

''I wouldn't say that. But why would I tell you things like that?"

Basile sighs, looking up at the sky.

''Oh, shit, Lucas drunk is so much more fun. Lucas sober, you're not funny! Tonight, I want to talk to Lucas drunk!"

Lucas sighs as he looks up at Eliott shrugging his shoulders. 

"Why don't we ever talk about your sex lives?" Lucas asks as he looks at them.

They all shrug almost at the same time.

''Because we don't care, so it's not funny.'' Alexia says, ''I'm not ashamed to say I like it when Arthur caresses me while he bites my nipples.''

''I like it when Basile keeps his pants on and just unzips his fly.'' says Daphne, winking at Basile.

''Yeah, I like that, too!'' Basile says, ''That's so hot. But I love it when Daphne sucks on my earlobes. It drives me crazy, I don't know why."

"I like to take my hearing aids off" says Arthur. "I know I moan too loud, but I don't care."

"Thank you for your neighbors!" Emma laughs. "Personally, I love it when it almost hurts. You see, Lulu, we're so comfortable here, so it's no fun talking about it."

"You're blushing." Basile says, "It's just too funny."

"Yann hasn't said anything either." Lucas says looking at him.

''I like threesomes, but you already know that, guys.''

"With two girls?" Alexia asked, obviously astonished.

Yann shrugs his shoulders.

''Yeah, or a girl and a guy, as long as the guy doesn't take care of me, I'm cool with that. No offense, guys. I'm willing to share, but I'm not interested in guys."

Lucas sighs as Eliott looks at him smiling.

''I really like it when Lucas is on top.'' says Eliott as if it's perfectly normal to talk about it while driving. ''He always forbids me to touch myself at the end and I like when he gets so bossy.''

Lucas blushes and hides his face in his hands while his friends whistle and clap.

"Your turn, Lulu!" Basile shouts.

''Shit, I miss Imane.'' moans Lucas ''With her, we wouldn't have had this kind of talk. Ok. I love it when Eliott bites me."

He sighs and looks at his friends who aren't saying anything.

"Like?" Basile says "Does he bite you, the parts?"

Lucas shakes his head and blushes.

"No. Of course not. That must hurt like hell. No, I meant, like, all over the place. Mostly in the chest, but a little bit the butt, too. Or thighs. Belly. On the back."

''Yeah, all over. Eliott, do you do that? Are you turning into a cannibal for him?"

Eliott smiles as he turns where the GPS indicates.

''Sure, yeah. He likes that. And so do I. It's like a kiss, but a little more intense. Besides, I like to see the marks I leave on him.''

Eliott parks the van in the parking.

''Oh shit, this conversation's finally over!'' moans Lucas by jumping out of the van.

He looks at the welcome sign while his friends join him laughing. Lucas rolls his eyes before he looks at Daphne.

''I've never done an escape game before, great idea, Daphne! You really are a wonderful organizer! We'll take you on as a wedding planner."

And what sounded like a joke makes sense after all. Eliott and Lucasexchange a glance and Daphne hugs him.

''Lucas, this is a fucking great idea! _Daphne, event planner. You wanted this? Daphne does it_... oh, my God, that's awesome! Thank you, Lulu, I think you just gave me the idea for what I'm gonna do with my life."

Lucas smiles at her and the eight of them walk into the huge house in front of them.

''Hello, young people. I'm Timothy. Are you ready for this? You'll have an hour to try and figure out the code to get out of the room. You'll know more when you get inside."

Timothy opens a locker behind him and pulls out a cardboard box.

''Your phones go in there. No objects from outside the room are allowed. No phones, no knives, no lamps."

''Do we need a lamps?'' asks Lucas.

Timothy looks at him and shrugs his shoulders.

''Depends on how you play, I guess.''

Lucas sighs and Eliott reaches over and pulls his arm towards him.

''Don't worry, babe, I'll be there.''

''I'm not worried.''

They all step forward and enter a room that looks like an old library. There's a coat rack, several shelves with books, a telephone on a low cabinet, two tables in the middle and several chairs. 

The door slamming behind them startle them. The stopwatch above the door starts instantly.

''Oh yeah'' laughs Emma ''direct.''

"Okay," Basile yells, "we have to search everywhere. Attack!"

"But why are you shouting?" complains Yann next to him. "Daphne, calm your boyfriend down."

Daphne looks at Basile, who pulls out all the books on the shelves, then looks at Arthur.

"Arthur, calm your best friend down.

"Oh, my goodness!" Basile yells. 

He puts one of the books on the floor and points to a huge light switch on the wall.

"Wait!" screams Alexia.

But it's too late, Basile flicks the switch and the room goes completely black. Even the stopwatch is no longer distinguishable.

"Damn it, Baz!" Lucas yells, "Push on it again!"

''I'm trying! It's doesn't work!" Basile gets angry. "we're groping around, there must be another switch. Sorry."

"Fucking Baz! It's not too funny! Eliott, did you tell him to do that? Turn on the fucking light, man. Turn on the fucking light."

"Hey, Lulu, what are you doing here?" Yann asks from across the room. "How did he know we could darken the room?"

Someone bumps into a piece of furniture and something falls in another corner of the room.

"Goddamn it, turn the lights back on!"

"Hey," says quietly, Eliott says, "talk to me and I'm coming, baby."

"Please come. I am just"

"Are you afraid?" Arthur raves, "Are you afraid of the dark? With all the crap you did to me because I was afraid of dogs? Are you afraid of the dark? Like babies?"

Lucas feels a hand touching him and he starts screaming.

"shhuttt" Eliott whispers in his ear "it's me, babe. It's me Breathe."

Lucas shakes his head as he pushes his head against Eliott's chest. Eliott gently strokes his cheek, and it's enough to feel a few tears on his cheeks.

''Okay, we're looking for another switch,'' says Emma.

Their friends shake everything around the room while Eliot holds Lucas close to him and hums.

" _Baby, I'm dancing in the dark, you between my arms."_

Lucas closes his eyes and he hears Arthur laughing. He'll be thinking about killing his friends right afterwards. For now, he's just gonna wait in Eliott's arms for someone to turn on the fucking light.

And luckily, Yann does it by moving the coat rack. Emma finds puzzle number 5 first, but no matter what, they solve it. And they're looking everywhere for the other riddles, Arthur pretending every five minutes to press the switch again to turn the light off, just to piss Lucas off.

''Your time will run out in five minutes.'' spit out the voice into the speaker

"Shut up!" Daphné yells. 

''Fuck, think, guys.'' said Emma as she read the last clue. ''I start at night, I finish the action, I'm in the pond, I'm in the garden, I'm twice in the unconscious.''

"Shit, if only we could call lmane!" Alexia complains.

''All we need is this and we can go out.''

Lucas looks at his friends. Everybody's been racking their brains for the last 45 minutes with riddles... All they need is a letter or a number to get the code to unlock the door. He closes his eyes and thinks of Imane. If Imane would be there, she would tell him what she kept telling him during their French revision sessions: _be careful, Lucas, sometimes there is a hidden meaning in the sentences._

And it hits him.

''You have two minutes left.''

"Shut the fuck up!" Emma screams. "This isn't helping."

''The N!'' shouts Lucas ''It's the N. He starts the word night, finishes the action..It's the N.''

"Type in!" screams Eliott at Daphne. 

''What the hell are you yelling for?'' Daphne screams back.

They all burst out laughing as Daphne types in the code. The door unlocks and the stopwatch stops at 00:34.

''Damn it, we did it!'' Basile yells as he comes out, ''I'm so proud of us.''

They all come out and gather for a group hug. It was fun. They yelled at each other, Lucas wanted to kill Basile for turning out the light and Arthur for making fun of him afterwards. Emma almost strangled Alexia who kept saying the stopwatch. But they did it together and they're happy.

''In the end we were wide!'' said Arthur as he photographed the stopwatch.

"Thank you, Daph." Eliott said as he hugged her. "It was a great idea."

Daphne wipes a tear from the corner of her eye by nodding her head.

''Thank to you guys. Right now I should be home alone trying to work out my problems. I would, but I really needed that break from you guys. This week, I really feel like I'm in another universe and I don't have any problems anymore. So thank you, really."

They meet Timothy at the front desk and pick up their phones in a really warm atmosphere.

''Usually the bands come out of this room sulking. I'm glad you guys had a good time!"

''A very great time!'' said Arthur, with a nod to Lucas. ''Very informative!''

Lucas shows him his finger and stuffed his phone in his pocket. He doesn't miss the immediately strange look on Eliott's face as he stares at his phone.

"Hey, love, it's all good?

Eliott shakes his head and keeps staring at his phone.

''No. It's Lola, she left the hospital without permission.''


	11. A good discussion

The return trip is silent. As soon as they arrive at the holiday home, Daphne and Eliott lock themselves in Eliott and Lucas' room to make a phone call. 

"Do you think they'll want to go back to Paris?"

Lucas hadn't even thought of that. He just shrugs his shoulders at Alexia who just asked and leaves his friends sitting around the table on the terrace. He opens Franck's room, who is celebrating and sits down next to him to caress him.

He doesn't really know how long he stays there, just with Franck. But the puppy brings him a small ball and Lucas throws it to him for a while. The house is so quiet that Lucas jumps when the door opens.

Eliott appears with a little smile and comes to sit next to Lucas. Franck jumps on him and Eliott starts to laugh.

''Do you want to go back to Paris?'' asks Lucas.

He tries not to look sad. He knows it's not his fault if Lola needs him, but his voice betrays him. Eliott hears him because he puts his hands on Lucas' cheeks.

''No. No, babe. We were able to reason with her on the phone, and she went back in. Maya's gonna be allowed to go to her, I think the doctors realized she needs to be around.''

''Well, that's good. How's she doing?''

Eliott shrugs his shoulders and throws the ball across the room.

''It's hard. She's lonely and isolated and it's really weighing on her. I'll call her back tonight to talk a little bit, take her mind off it for a while. How are you doing?"

Lucas shrugs his shoulders.

''I'm scared. I know she doesn't wanna hurt you, and I think it's great that she can count on you. I know she sees you as a big brother, and that's cool, but I'm scared. I'm sorry."

Eliott immediately takes him in his arms and hugs him.

''You got nothing to be sorry about, babe. What you're feeling is completely valid. I know we both screwed up and I know it's hard for you. but I swear she's really trying. And I swear I don't want to screw around anymore. I know I scared you, I'm really sorry."

''I know."

Lucas is snuggling a little more with Eliott. He can only hope that Lola doesn't slip again, and drag Eliott down with her. He can only hope that Eliott will have enough confidence in them not to slip this time. Maybe if it happens again, the ring in his hand will remind him that Lucas loves him, just the way he is, and forever.

''She's really brave.'' Admits Lucas ''Frankly, agreeing to be hospitalized is really brave. I hope she's gonna be fine."

''Yeah.'' Confirms Eliott ''I've been offered it twice, when I was really badly but it really scared me, even for a short stay. Normally she goes out on Saturday, unless they postpone her scheduled outing because of her elopement, which I don't hope. We'll see her on Thursday with Daphne."

Lucas nods his head and takes the ball that Franck brings triumphant.

''If you want, Thursday, you can go when I go to see my mom.''

Eliott shakes his head and smiles at him.

''No. I promised your mom I'd be there so I'd go with you. And then I wanna be there when you go to tell her. I mean, if you wanna tell her now, of course, it's up to you."

Lucas thinks and then smiles.

''Of course I want to tell her. But if she agrees to come over for dinner Friday night with my dad, I'd rather tell them both at the end of dinner."

Eliott looks at him, tilts his head to the side.

''Why at the end? Why don't we announce it with a toast?"

Lucas shakes his head and giggles.

''No, at the end. That way, if they don't like it, we can go free."

Eliott nods his head and holds Lucas close to him.

''I'm sure it'll be okay, baby. So I'm planning a Sunday dinner with my parents? They're gonna go crazy! They've offered to adopt you so many times, I know how they'll react. My dad is going to be so thrilled. I bet he's going to call you "his son."

Lucas laughs before he kisses Eliott.

''You know he already does. Sunday, It's perfect. We can tell your parents before we eat. Ok, what do you wanna do now?"

Eliott stands up and reaches out his hand to help Lucas up.

''Looks like the others left with the dogs, so maybe we can try to let Franck loose, right? Look how cute he is now. Come on, let's give it a try."

Eliott opens the door and calls Franck, who runs out of the room... And since he's short on legs, it's really funny to see. He gets in his paws and his nose falls on the floor, but he gets back on his paws by barking. 

And finally, he stays almost all the time towards Eliott or Lucas. Even when Daphne and Basile come down from their room, holding each other by the waist.

''It looks like he's less wild now!'' says Basile as he tries to pet him. 

Franck shows him his teeth and takes refuge behind Lucas' feet.

''Or not.'' laughs Basile ''Frankly, I don't know which of you two or him will have the hardest time leaving you in 3 days.''


	12. A good bender

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't post early today, family setback...I hope you'll like this chapter :-)

_''Frankly, I don't know which one of you or him is going to have the hardest time leaving in three days.''_

That fucking sentence has been playing on a loop in Lucas' head for the last two days. They're at a great outdoor party for July 14th. There's a band playing, a giant barbecue and a bar and frankly the 50-cent glass of beer sounds really absurd. It's clear that in the Paris region, the price is not the same.  
  
They ate hot dogs and pancakes while waiting for the fireworks and now they're sitting on the grass, in front of a huge lake. Lucas is sitting in Eliott's legs. He is looking at Alexia and Arthur who are resting against each other, and Basile who is sitting between Daphne's legs. Emma and Yann are laughing as they drink their beer. Lucas is not very comfortable because it's always in this kind of place that he's afraid to meet homophobes who would insult them or who would want to fight. But even though he has this little fear in him, he doesn't want to let fear run his life so he takes Eliott's arms and hugs them to his chest.

He plays with Eliott's ring, twisting it around his ring finger. It's become his new nervous habit. That, and putting his necklace in his mouth. Eliott takes the necklace out of his mouth and bends over to kiss him.

''It's all right, babe. Nobody's paying attention to us."

Lucas sighs and huddles up in Eliott's arms.

''I know. I'm an idiot."

Eliott shakes his head and kisses him again.

''No. We know that happens. Especially in a place like this, with drunken people. But I wouldn't let my drunk boyfriend fight, so don't worry about it."

Lucas chuckles as he turns to look at him.

''I'm not drunk. I've barely had a few beers."

Eliott raises an unconvincing eyebrow and kisses him on the tip of his nose.

''A few beers? Like, can you tell me how many?"

Lucas tries to count, but he loses it and finally shrugs his shoulders.

''Don't worry, everything's fine.'' says Eliott ''I'm like Basile, I like to talk to Lucas drunk once in a while. So, Mr. I-am-not-drunk, are you happy about your vacation?"

Lucas giggles.

''I wish I could've stayed longer. I don't want to go home. The apartment will seem so small and so empty."

Eliott giggles as he hugs him.

''Hey, I'll be there, babe. I promise I'll be loud. Let's just put on my music. And then I got two more weeks of vacation before I take over the video store, so we can both enjoy it."

Lucas sighs.

"I don't want it to be just the two of us anymore."

Lucas opens his eyes and keeps his mouth shut for two seconds, until Eliott starts laughing.

''Oh, God, drunk Lucas, I love you, but you're such a fucking clumsy.''

Lucas almost climbs up into Eliott's lap to kiss him.

''I didn't mean that. I "

The sound of a rocket rising in the sky startled him and he sat down between Eliott's legs to watch the fireworks. He doesn't even know what he meant anymore. But Eliott hugs him and kisses his neck so Lucas knows they're okay. The music starts playing and they enjoy the fireworks quietly.

''I love you, too, babe.''

Well, almost silently, anyway.

Lucas has definitely had too much to drink tonight. And so have his friends. It becomes clear when they stop on the way home to make Basile throw up. The jerking in the van isn't helping. 

Lucas stumbles to the terrace while Yann comes out of the kitchen with bottles, looking triumphant.

''It's our last night here, we won't bring back the opened bottles, OK?''

Lucas glances at Eliott talking to Daphne and Alexia and holds out his glass. One more drink can't hurt. It's the only time of the week he drinks too much. And then they come home, nothing bad can happen here.

And before he knows it, he loses count of the drinks, laughing with the gang and Emma. Eliott, Daphne and Alexia must be in the kitchen. Or maybe they're already in bed. Did they say they were in the living room? Lucas doesn't really know anymore...No matter how hard he thinks, he doesn't know where Eliott is. He can't be far anyway. It's almost 2:00 in the morning.

Emma's sitting between Yann and Arthur filling all the glasses to finish a bottle. Lucas is sure this one wasn't opened earlier. She fills his glass and Lucas drinks like he's thirsty. Just relaxing, laughing with his mates. That's really a great holiday.

"So?" Basile asks, sitting next to Lucas with his drink. "So, you're a bossy top? I never would have thought that of you, you know. You hide your game so well. Although, you did hit Arthur once. So yeah, I guess you're not so bad after all."

Lucas bursts out laughing and puts his hand on Basile's hand.

''You'd like me to show you, wouldn't you? I'm sure you'd love that : be in full submission to me."

Basile looks him in the eye and raises his eyebrows.

''Maybe, yeah.''

Lucas looks at Basile with a frown on his face and then his whole face relaxes and he runs his hand through Basile's hair and squeezes his fingers back slightly, making Basile moan.

''Yeah, I'm sure you'd love that. I love your hair, Baz, you know that?"

Yeah, definitely Lucas has had too much to drink.

He doesn't even remember Basile's response or the rest of the night. 

But at least he wakes up in his bed in his boxers, one leg over Eliott's. He moves slightly and reaches out his hand to squeeze himself close to him, but he touches a torso far too hairy to be Eliott's. He jumps and pushes a Basile, just dressed in his boxer shorts, out of his bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe for once I decided my story wouldn't end well..¯\\_༼ ಥ ‿ ಥ ༽_/¯...


	13. A rude awakening

  
''Fuck, Baz! What the fuck are you doing here?"

Lucas is holding his head, he had way too much to drink yesterday. Basile looks around, shrugs his shoulders before he lies down on the bed instead of Eliott and puts the blanket over his head. 

''I'm sleeping!"

Lucas grunts and gets up, grabbing a t-shirt and shorts off the floor. In the living room, Arthur and Yann sleep on the sofa. Yann still has his shorts on but Arthur is just in his boxer. Franck jumps on him barking before going back outside, making his way among the big dogs.

Lucas follows him and joins Daphne and Alexia who are drinking their coffee around the table.

"Uh, hi."

Alexia jumps up and turns her head to him.

''Here's a survivor. You're the first one up. How's the hangover, not too bad?"

Lucas looks around and sighs.

''Where's Eliott?''"

Daphne frowns as she looks at him.

''He left after he caught you, cheating him, with my boyfriend. Well, more like ex-boyfriend, I should say, I'll let you have him since you seemed to like him so much."

Lucas opens his eyes and his blood freezes instantly. No, he couldn't have done that. He doesn't remember anything,but he wouldn't do that. Especially since he's never felt this kind of desire for Basile. If he's honest with himself, he's never felt that kind of desire for anyone but Eliott.

A kiss on the neck makes him jump and it makes Eliott jump back while the girls burst out laughing.

''Hey, babe, it's me, who did you want it to be?"

Lucas looks at the girls with a black look, but they're laughing so hard, Lucas is sure they don't even see him. He looks at Eliott who sits around the table with his coffee and then turns his head towards him, smiling while putting Frank on his lap.

''What's up, baby? Do you look weird? How'd you sleep? Is Basile still sleeping? You both looked like you slept so well, I'd almost be jealous. I thought you only slept well with me."

Lucas shrugs his shoulders.

''I have no idea what happened.''

Eliott laughs as he pulls the chair up beside him to get Lucas to sit down.

''You decided to finish the bottles, since we're leaving today. Luckily there weren't many left, but you were already hot... You said a lot of things you wouldn't normally say, as usual, but I'm sure your friends don't even remember. And you had a best striptease contest, which you won, no doubt. I took you to bed when you decided to get completely naked. By the time I took a shower, Basile was sleeping in my place. Like, totally in your arms. You two were so cute, with your drunken smiles."

Lucas looks at him frowning but stop because it's making his headache worse. Well, one bender on a week's vacation with the gang isn't much, either. It's amazing enough Arthur didn't bring any weed with him. Lucas is sure it's because of Eliott, and Lucas will have Arthur to thank for that. 

"Why did you leave it there? You had to get him out." Lucas asks in a moan.

''I tried to get him to leave.'' laughs Eliott ''but he's a real pain in the ass when he's drunk. And then you said, and I quote: _Let him, I've always wanted to sleep with my hand in his hair. Come touch how soft and silky it is._ So I went to sleep with Daphne."

Lucas choked on a sip of coffee while Daphne and Eliott laughed.

''Just kidding. Oh, Lucas, you're so cute."

Daphne shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

''And even if we did sleep together? You slept with my boyfriend, I can sleep with yours, right?"

''Yeah!'' confirms Alexia ''Eliott, you owe Daphne a night! And in boxer! Damn it, Lucas, you couldn't sleep with Arthur? Daphne, if you're not using your night off, I'm taking it!"

Lucas grunts while his friends laugh. Yann and Arthur join them in a pitiful state.

"I slept with you, silly." finally Eliott says, "I'll share you, but I won't give up my place."

And as if to confirm, Daphne hands him her phone. Having a picture of him sleeping with his mouth open, stuck between Eliott and Basile, both with one arm around his waist, is just weird.

''I didn't know you liked threesomes, too,'' Yann laughs as he bends over to look at the picture.

Arthur grabs the phone and starts laughing. 

''The three of you are so cute. Oh, shit, is it 10:00 already? Do you know they're coming in four hours?"

"Who's coming?" Basile asks as he joins them, rubbing his eyes. He leans over to Lucas and kisses him on the cheek. "It was a pleasure sleeping with you. You are a perfect pillow."

He kisses Eliott's cheek as Lucas grunts.

''It was nice sleeping with you, too. I never thought a guy that big could take up so little space."

He goes around the table and bends over to kiss Daphne.

''Sorry, honey. I guess going up the stairs just seemed too hard and I didn't want to sleep on the couch like those two idiots."

Daphne laughs as she looks at Lucas.

''Just to see the look on Lucas' face this morning, it was worth sleeping without you one night. Honestly, Lucas, if you'd have sex with Basile, I would have left, too. Or I'd have killed you, I'm still hesitating. Probably both."

Alexia tells the very bad joke while Lucas moans, getting closer to Eliott.

''I was sure I hadn't done it. Even if I was drunk, I would never cheat on you."

Eliott kisses him on the forehead, smiling.

''I know. But we're gonna have to talk about that passion you confessed to me about Basile's hair. You talked about it for at least an hour last night."

"This sheep?" Lucas laughs. "No, nothing to talk about."

Eliott bursts out laughing and pulls Lucas towards him to kiss him.

''I love you, baby. You're really so cute, but you're really not subtle. It makes you even cuter. I feel like my heart could explode because I love you so much."

They spend an hour and a half in the pool, decide to make the most of it before they leave. Alexia manages to surf her way across the pool, and Basile always falls out. The fact that he's not totally sober shouldn't help him either.

They eat quickly and then spend the rest of the time packing up their stuff and cleaning up. At 1.50 pm, all the bags are in the van, the house is clean and tidy and they are all in the garden playing with the dogs. Arthur always keeps away from the big dogs but accepts the presence of the dalmatian. 

''Oh, my God!''

They all turn around at the same time to see Astrid, who stands there gawking in front of them. They all look at each other, looking for what they've done wrong, but they can't see anything. 

''Look, Michael. We couldn't have asked for a better way to get our house back, but how did you get Frank to agree to be with the others? We have been taking him in for 2 months and he has never approached another dog without trying to bite him."

Eliott and Lucas shrugged their shoulders and put one hand on the pug at the same time. They exchange a sad look and look at him.

''Frank follows them everywhere,'' Daphne says, getting up ''the puppies are in great shape. In fact, they're all in great shape. We had a wonderful holiday. I hope you did, too."

''We had a great time, we really needed it,'' Michael says ''but what did you do to your forehead?''

Lucas smiles. He almost forgot. In a few days, he'll have the stitches out and he'll just have the scar.

''A heat stroke, too many emotions and a bad encounter with a beer bottle, nothing serious.''

Astrid and Michael offer them one last drink before Emma tells them it's time to hit the road. Lucas takes the little dog in his arms and the tears flow by themselves. 

''I'm sorry. Take good care of him. Bye, big boy."

Lucas runs almost to the van and dries his tears. He gets in the front seat and he starts growling.

"No comment!"

Everybody's quiet, and Lucas watches as Eliott joins them. He starts the van, back up and puts his jacket, which he was holding in his arms, on Lucas' lap. And in the middle of his jacket is Franck.

''No!'' inspires Lucas ''Didn't you do that? Eliott, stop the van, we have to give him back. You can't take it, like that."

Eliott stops and Astrid appears at the van window.

"I am so"

''Don't worry, Lucas'' Astrid stop him ''we were looking for a foster family for him. We can't keep them all and he totally adopted you. Eliott told me you wanted a dog so if it's still good for you, he's yours. I know he'll be happy with you. Just seeing how he's changed in a week is enough to make sure it's the best thing for him."

Lucas looks at Franck, then Eliott, then Astrid and then again before hugging the dog.

''Thank you. Thank you. We'll send you some pictures, I promise. He's gonna be pampered like he's never been pampered before. Oh, fuck, Eliott! Tell me I'm not dreaming."

"You're not dreaming." screams all his friends behind him.

Eliott chuckles before thanking Astrid one more time and waving at Michael and then driving back to the main road. 

''And one piece down the middle.'' Eliott laughs. ''I swear this is just the beginning, we're going to have a beautiful family together. ''

Lucas turns around to watch the summer house get smaller and smaller. Within a week, he's come of age, he's engaged, and they've adopted a dog. Well, more like a dog adopted them. 

''Damn it, now I'll never be able to come to your house again.'' Arthur moans ''You're two, you're a pain in the ass.''

And everyone in the van burst out laughing.

It was definitely a good fucking holiday!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course I was joking...no cheating, of course...but I can imagine Eliott coming to sleep with Lucas, even if Basile took his place...


	14. A happy end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love epilogues...I like to think that in each universe, they end up with a totally different family because they made different choices and lived different things...so enjoy reading ;-)

"I think I'm ready!"

Eliott wraps around Lucas' waist and kisses him twice on the neck.

"You're beautiful."

Lucas rolls his eyes and hugs him.

"No matter what I wear, you always say that."

''That's right, Dad. Even when he wears oversized jogging pants. You're not a good advice. But I think you're very handsome, Daddy."

Eliott looks at Alice and lowers himself to her height. 

''I give perfect advice, but your daddy's just beautiful no matter how he's dressed."

Alice raises an eyebrow, visibly unconvinced.

''Even when Noah throws up on him?''

Lucas turns to look at them and raises an eyebrow, smiling, obviously happy with their daughter's repartee.

''Yes, Princess, even when Noah throws up on him, I think he's beautiful. He smells bad, but he's still beautiful."

Alice looks up to the sky with a sigh as Lucas bends over to kiss Eliott.

''Without clothes I find you even more beautiful" whispered Eliott before turning to address their daughter. ''Al, put Brian back in his terrarium, you don't keep him around your neck waiting for your grandparents.''

He hears Alice sighing again and he's sure she's rolling her eyes.

''If my father sees her once more with that snake in a necklace, he'll have a heart attack.'' says Lucas very seriously.

Eliott laughs and kisses him again. 

''OK, I'm going to check that Brian is in his place and put Silver, Apple and Frank in the garden before Arthur gets there, otherwise he'll scream and scare Noah again. Honestly, in the nine years Frank's been with us, he could have gotten used to it, couldn't he?"

Lucas laughs as he rolls his eyes.

''Maybe, and then remember, it did get better at one point, with Franck. But when you came back with Apple three years later, we knew he'd never get used to it. One Barbet, Eliott? It's almost worse than Astrid and Michael's big dogs."

Eliott comes over to him and puts his forehead against his own.

''Already he looks like a big teddy bear, and he's not scary at all. And besides, I only fell for him because I knew you'd like his pretty curly hair, which reminds me of Basile's hair."

Lucas moans exaggeratedly like every time Eliott talks to him about it, but Eliott kisses him on the neck and giggles.

''And who wanted to adopt Silver when Astrid told him about it?'' continues Eliott ''A wolfhound, Lucas? Did you really think Arthur wouldn't be afraid of that?"

Lucas giggles and kisses Eliott, he just can't help it.

''He was so cute. And then he was just a baby. He's still just a big, fat two-year-old baby. A big, fat baby that looks like a wolf."

Eliott laughs as he grabs Lucas' cheeks in his hands and kisses him.

''They're all big babies with you, Lucas. Even Franck."

''It's our first baby, Eliott! Of course it's my baby! Just a baby that's getting old, that's all."

Eliott kisses him again and walks to the bedroom door.

"Okay, I'm gonna put the big babies in the garden and we'll be ready."

''Please put Polly away, you know your mother doesn't like it when he flies around. And I'm sure he knows that, because he's going around her on purpose."

Eliott laughs while he shakes his head.

''My mother's a baby. That parrot couldn't hurt her even if he wanted to. What does she think? That he's gonna poke out her eyes with his beak?"

Lucas sighs, looking up at the sky as Eliott comes out into the hallway.

"Close his cage, please, my love."

Eliott smiles as he pushes his head back through the door.

"Of course, anything my beautiful husband wants."

Lucas looks up at the sky again.

''Your father is just unbearable when he says it like that. I feel like the bad guy."

He looks at Noah, who's chirping in his bed, and he holds him.

''But I'm not the bad guy, you know that. It's understandable that not everybody likes living in the middle of this jungle like us, right, baby? I'm sure Babs isn't in her cage, either. Will you come with me and get that rabbit out of the house before one of the guests step on it?"

In response, Noah coughs and then vomits some of his milk. But Lucas has been used to it for 3 months now and he pushes it back just enough for the vomit to fall to the floor. 

''OK, let's clean this up and then we'll look for the rabbit.''

As usual, the rabbit is lying on the couch, like a pasha. Lucas puts him in his cage just as the doorbell rings. And soon, all their friends and relatives fill the house. 

''Happy Birthday Alice!!''

Alice turns in the middle of everyone in a blue sequined dress that highlights her eyes. 

''You're growing up so fast, sweetheart.'' says Eliott's mom.

''Already 4 years old! It's incredible! 'You're so beautiful !" said Lucas' mom.

Alice takes all the comments with a big smile and hugs the whole family as they arrive. Their family: their parents, their friends, their friends' childrens. All the family they have made for themselves.

''Are your monsters hidden?'' asks Arthur knocking at the living room door.

"They're not monsters, but yes, they are in the garden."

''I'm going to see them!'' said Basile after kissing Alice and then Noah, untied the leash of Max, his Breton spaniel, who was heading straight for the garden, used to coming here, and apparently eager to meet his fellow monsters.

Lucas hears him laughing while the four dogs start barking. Basile really has a knack for getting their dogs excited.

''Look Uncle Lulu, I drew Polly.'' says a familiar little voice. 

Lucas stoops down to look at Leon, who hands him a drawing. Even though he's only four, Arthur's son always comes with a drawing for them. Lucas thanks him and hangs it with the millions of drawings that fill the fridge and watches Leon disappear with Sophie and Alice laughing.

When it's time for a toast, Imane and Sofiane appear on the computer screen at the end of the table with their twins, Ayana and Zoria. And even though they are at Sofiane's parents' house, Lucas tells himself that it's done, now they are all together.

And of course, as usual when they receive people, in the middle of the meal, Alice and Leon come back disguised as pirates and everyone freezes. Except Lucas and Eliott, giggling. Their friends and family should be used to it by now.

''Oh Lucas! Take that thing off!" asks his father "but how can you accept this?"

''Eliott, I thought you said that parrot was out of the room.'' his mother moans.

Lucas looks at Alice and Leon laughing, obviously delighted with the grown-up reaction. 

''Dad, I accept Brian because he is harmless and Alice takes good care of him. Alice, you know Grandpa doesn't like snakes, please go put Brian away. And Polly too. Even if I agree, a parrot on the shoulder is indispensable in piracy, and it suits you very well Leon.''

Alice sighs as she looks at her grandpa.

''It doesn't even have venom. Even Noah's not afraid of him. Sometimes I put it on his belly and Noah laughs."

Then she turns to her grandmother.

''Dad says you're a baby. Polly's not gonna hurt you, you know, she's just a beautifully colored bird, and he's very smart. Leon loves him."

Eliott's mother looks at Lucas and Eliott with a raised eyebrow, and Lucas points at his husband. Eliott bursts out laughing as he gently taps his finger.

"Hey, where is my husband's unwavering support?"

"It's not appropriate when you call your mother a baby in front of our daughter" laughs Lucas. "and since Alice wasn't with us earlier when you said it, that means you said it several times. Sorry, Marie."

Eliott's mom looks at him and laughs out loud.

''I'm the one who follows, sorry for raising my son so poorly. Oh, my God, he must be such a pain in the ass every day. I don't know how you put up with all this, Lucas, but I'm incredibly glad you do."

Lucas looks at Eliott and smiles at him.

''There's nothing easier in life than living next door to him.''

Half the table pushes a cute ''ohhh...'' while the other half laughs softly.

"Isn't 7 years of marriage supposed to be hard?" Yann asks, "You look like you just got back from your honeymoon. Think about the single people, guys, stop blinding us with your love."

''It's very cute and we're all happy to see you so happy and so in love, but the snake is still there!'' said Lucas' dad with a grimace.

Alice lets Eliott take Brian to put him back in his terrarium. He makes a small detour to go and annoy Yann who hates snakes while Alice climbs on Basile's lap sulking. Lucas calls Polly and beckons his to come on his shoulder. The bird does so, not without coming close to his mother-in-law. Lucas takes it back to its cage and the parrot keeps answering "killjoy, killjoy." which makes the whole table laugh.

''You're the prettiest pirate, honey, even without a snake around your arm'' Daphne says softly. ''And Leon is perfect even without a parrot on his shoulder."

"One day when you grow up, I might tattoo a nice snake on your arm," says Emma, causing a huge smile on Alice's face.

''Yeah, we got time.'' Gromelle Lucas.

"Oh Lulu! With two dads tattooed, no wonder she wants one." points out Emma.

"She's right!" said Basile before he turned all his attention to Alice, still in his lap "Do you know where Sophie is?"

''She fell asleep on my bed so she could watch Babs in her cage. You should get her a bunny. She really likes her."

Basile looks at Daphne with a begging look on his face and Daphne shakes her head.

''Baz! Don't give me that look. We already have Max. With a little girl two and a half years old and the baby coming in three months, it's enough."

Basile sighs as he points to them.

''Look here, they're doing well themselves. It's almost a jungle, but it works."

Lucas takes Eliott's hand on the table and brings it to his lips to kiss him. Yeah, they're doing it perfectly.

Alice opens her presents while everyone is sharing the cake and Lucas could not be happier. They did it. They have a family. And nine pieces in between of their necklaces are already being used, less than ten years after Eliott gave him his necklace. And even if sometimes he feels like he's going crazy when he comes home from work and Eliott is sitting in the middle of the living room with the kids, and no animal is in his place, and they sometimes take an hour to find Brian or Babs, he wouldn't change their family for anything in the world. There's nothing more wonderful than to come home from work, worried about Eliott, who let him know that he wasn't well, and to find him lying in their bed, the three dogs around him, as if they wanted to protect him from himself.

When Alice discovers a small piece of puzzle engraved in a box, she starts screaming. Lucas's father immediately reveals to her a little black and white kitten that was waiting in Eliott's office.

''Oh dads! I got a kitten! I got a kitten! 'm so happy! Thank you! Welcome home, you're going to be called "Oreo." Dad, you can carve his name underneath the picture. He's perfect. I love him. I love yoy, dads.''

Lucas smiles as Eliott holds him tight with one arm around his shoulders. Noah wiggles in his arms and Eliott gently caresses his barely hairy head.

''Don't worry, my little love baby, you'll get a pet too, when you want one. Maybe an iguana. Oh yeah... or a turtle? Oh yeah! Having a turtle would be so cool. I love your idea, son.''

Lucas can't help but pull Eliott against him to kiss him.

''I love you, Eliott demaury. I love you so much."

Eliott smiles, putting his hand on the back of Lucas' neck.

''I Love you, too. Lucas Demaury."

"And here we go again." ironizes Yann.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This crazy family living in the middle of a jungle was my childhood friend's family...her parents were veterinarians and I've never seen so many different animals in one house. I would love to go to her house so much! (but I never passed in her brother's room, he had 3 snakes...)
> 
> Thank you for following this story! And happy holidays to those who have some!

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to comment ⛱


End file.
